Seven Mistakes That Delay Your Recovery from a Business Interruption

Unfortunately, many businesses fall into common traps that delay recovery after business interruptions. Delays are costly in many ways, and often exacerbate the impact of the disruption, which leads to unnecessary and preventable losses. However, you can avoid these common recovery pitfalls by understanding what they are and how you can avoid them, ensuring your business operations can bounce back as swiftly as possible after an interruption. 

Here are seven common – and costly– mistakes that can delay your recovery from a business interruption, along with practical tips on how to avoid each one. By being proactive now, you can minimize your downtime when the unexpected happens.

1. Failing to Update Your Recovery Plan Regularly

Recovery plans are not static documents – they should evolve alongside your business. As you introduce new technologies, a change in process or operations, or you face significant personnel turnover, your recovery plan must be updated to reflect these changes. An outdated plan can lead to significant delays in your recovery efforts because employees will follow procedures that are no longer relevant or effective.

Solution: Regularly review and update your recovery plan, ideally at least every six months or after any significant organizational change. Regular business continuity testing is a great way to keep your recovery plan current and ensure all employees are aware of the latest procedures.

2. Inadequate Employee Training

Even the most comprehensive recovery plan will likely fail if your employees are not properly trained to execute it. Lack of training can lead to hesitation, errors, and inefficient recovery processes. When your business is in the middle of a crisis, every minute counts, and unprepared employees can inadvertently cause delays that make the situation worse.

Solution: Conduct regular training sessions and simulations to ensure all employees understand their roles during a recovery. A great time to conduct these training sessions is every six months – right after you’ve updated your recovery plan. Business continuity testing and tabletop exercises provide a risk-free environment for teams to practice their recovery steps under various scenarios, allowing them to become more comfortable in their role should disaster strike.

3. Not Establishing Recovery Equipment Needs and Specs in Advance

Many businesses fall victim to the mistake of waiting until after a crisis hits before figuring out what equipment they need to restore critical systems. Waiting until after the crisis is simply too late, and it can result in further delays and additional costs while the business tries to source equipment or configure the necessary tools. If the specifications of the required equipment – laptops, servers, power systems, etc. – aren’t documented in advance, it can significantly slow down the recovery time.

Solution: Don’t wait for the crisis to hit. Document the specifications and quantities of equipment you’ll need to restore critical systems before a business interruption occurs. This can include anything from IT infrastructure to power solutions. When new members onboard with Agility, our team of recovery managers help identify exactly what you will require to maintain operations – from generator sizes to technology requirements. This documentation allows your recovery partner to ensure what you need sourced and available on standby in the event of an interruption.

4. Lack of Assured Backup Power & Connection Services

When a business interruption happens, especially when it's due to a natural disaster or infrastructure failure, the absence of assured backup power or reliable internet connectivity can extend the time it takes for your business to recover. Without these backup systems in place, businesses are likely to experience major operational disruptions and severe financial losses.

Solution: Your business can maintain operational continuity – and greatly reduce financial losses – by having backup power and connectivity services in place before a business interruption occurs. This will prevent sourcing delays as local equipment providers are overwhelmed by requests and will also protect you from disaster-time cost inflation, not to mention save you hours on the phone as you call around and compete with other businesses for limited resources.

5. Insufficient Data Backup & Recovery Strategies

Losing data can be a catastrophic event for a business, but fortunately is something that is entirely preventable. Many businesses lack a robust data backup and recovery plan – if they even have one at all. This loss of data from a business interruption event can lead to irreparable damage to a business.

Solution: Implement a reliable data backup and recovery strategy that ensures critical information is backed up regularly and can be restored in moments. Learn more.

6. Poor Communication During a Crisis

In the midst of a crisis, misinformation can spread quickly and can lead to confusion or faulty decision-making and further delays in your recovery efforts. It can also stem from having an outdated recovery plan or lack of training, which further reinforces the importance of having a holistic, well-planned, and well-trained strategy in place for recovery after a business interruption.

Solution: Develop a crisis communication plan that includes predefined channels and protocols for all communication. Have a plan that allows all key stakeholders, such as employees, customers, partners, and vendors, to be kept informed as needed throughout the recovery process. Conduct tabletop exercises to ensure your team understands chain of communication protocols and that contact records are updated frequently.

7. Neglecting Vendor & Partner Preparedness

Most businesses don’t operate in a complete vacuum; they are also dependent on vendors and partners. If your partners and vendors aren’t prepared to adequately respond to a business interruption, their delays can have a significant impact on your own recovery time and ability to continue your business operations. It could be a key supplier who can’t deliver materials on time, or a service provider who is offline. All these business relationships and dependencies can affect each other, particularly in the recovery process.

Solution: Work with your vendors and partners to ensure all parties have business continuity plans in place, with each knowing they can rely on the other to be back up and running as soon as possible. For more information, download our Supply Chain Resilience Checklist and ensure your operations are prepared for business interruptions.

Take Action

Avoiding these common mistakes can significantly improve your business’ ability to recover from a multitude of business interruptions swiftly and efficiently. With proper planning, training, and resources, you can minimize the impact of disruptions and keep your operations running smoothly. Agility Recovery offers a wide range of solutions that support businesses along each step of the recovery path – reach out today to learn more.