12 Areas to Look at When Determining the Impact of a Disaster

Here is a list of 12 areas that the impact of any business disruption may include:

1.  Financial – Loss of revenues, higher costs, etc.
2. Customers & Suppliers – Customers and/or suppliers can be lost due to the company’s problems or if they experience a business disruption.
3. Employees & Staff – Staff members can be lost due to injury, stress, or in the aftermath of a business disruption.
4. Public Relations & Credibility – PR challenges arise when there is a business disruption due to IT failures. Having a well thought out PR plan is key to business credibility.
5. Legal – It is very important to assess regulations regarding worker health, safety, data privacy and security, etc.
6. Regulatory Requirements – In the event of some business disruptions, a company may be unable to meet minimum regulatory requirements.
7. Environmental – In some companies, environmental challenges may be experienced due to failures of certain systems.
8. Operational – Operations are impacted by any business disruptions. It is important to identify and rank these in terms of criticality.
9. Human Resources – Considerations on how staff will be impacted by minor and major business disruptions.
10. Loss Exposure – Overall losses that a company can possibly face include property loss, revenue loss, fines, cash flow, etc.
11. Social and Corporate Image – How employees, customers, suppliers, partners will view your company after a business disruption. Will your company’s image be altered?
12. Financial Community Credibility – How will banks, investors, or other creditors respond to a minor or major business disruption?

Although not all of these areas may pertain to your business it is very important to analyze all potential impact points for the Disaster Recovery Plan.