Risk Management Plan During Social Unrest is Essential

 

The first half of 2020 between COVID-19 and peaceful protests hijacked by looters has been hard on small businesses. As coordinated attacks on businesses by loosely organized criminal gangs continue, now is an excellent time to review your risk management plan. 

Understanding Risk is Key

 

Understanding the hazards to your business is vital to protect it. Most companies define their risks in a limited scope and do not have a risk management plan in place. It is time to expand the range to include weather-related events like floods or tornadoes and the damages caused by social unrest, terrorism, and cybercrime.  

There are two goals of a risk management plan: to mitigate risk and limit business recovery time. 

 

Scenario Exercise

 

As a quick exercise, make a list of possible scenarios for your business. Put every one of them on the list regardless of how outlandish it may seem. 

 

Now ask yourself, what would you do in those situations?

 

Next Steps

 

Identifying the risks allows you to move into preparing and planning. 

Some steps you can do right now:

• Call your insurance agent to review your coverage. They will be able to advise you on coverage.
• Conduct an inventory of records (paper & digital), equipment, and products. Where are your paper records kept? Where is your data saved — on the computer hard drive, on-site server, or backed up to the cloud?
• Decide how much risk can your business shelter financially? Determine where your breaking point is.  

 

Doing the above is a start in the development of your risk management plan, which includes cybersecurity to minimize disruption to your business operations. 

Next steps for your risk management plan

 

Every business is at risk from a clothes boutique to a dentist’s office. If you have something of value or your product/service represents something meaningful, then you are at risk. 

It would be best if you had a risk management plan to protect your business. And ideally, you should be reviewing it quarterly and making adjustments based on the changing landscape. 

Having a risk management plan allows your business to recover more quickly from a disruptive situation. 

 

Mind The Gap Cyber can assist you navigate your risks.