Based on Joe Flach story (2011), the founder, CEO and Lead Consultant for Safe Harbor Consulting, LLC, said that before 9/11, most disaster recovery and business continuity plans were based on the assumption that following a disaster, a company could or should function 20 to 25 percent of the workforce having an infrastructure relocated to an alternate site which can eventually be easily move back to the production facility (para 25). He also added that stress, panic, and confusion are the factors that affects business continuity and disaster recovery program.
The businesses that successfully recovered did an early disaster recovery planning like having an alternative work site, participation of employees during, before, and after the incident and also a better communication channels that connects to other remote offices. Flach said (2011) that one of the most valuable lessons he learned from 9/11 was the importance of reliable communications tools and practices during a crisis (para 4).
Joe Flach’s said that the companies failures are due to unpreparedness in disaster recovery program. Businesses that have no alternative sites, no disaster planning & training, and the communication tools are insufficient are the reasons why companies failed. One of the businesses that were hit and slammed hard was the company named “Sandler O’Neill” with only 17 people of 83 got out alive which pushed the company to start from scratch after the incident (Booker, 2015).
The most valuable lesson when a company encounters a calamity is the preparation which include better communication channels and alternative sites if such event happened. Employee training is also suggested by Joe Flach (2011) were a succession of command and employees roles are also discussed (para 27).
References
- Booker, K. (2015). After September 11: Starting over (Fortune, 2002). Retrieved from http://fortune.com/2015/09/11/september-11-sandler-oneill/
- Flach, J. (2011). 10 Years On: Lessons From 9/11. Retreived from http://www.continuityinsights.com/article/2011/09/10-years-lessons-911