Disasters, both man – made and natural, are a part of our every day life. It seems that every time you turn on the news there are tornadoes, bombings, tsunamis, earthquakes, fires and hurricanes ripping through cities and destroying lives. All of these disasters put stress on the state of our mental and emotional health as well as on the state of our businesses and economy as a whole. For families and businesses affected by a disaster, recovering and rebuilding can never start soon enough. Communication is one of the first things that needs to be established in any emergency. Unfortunately, it is also usually one of the first things to go down.

On September 11th, 2001, the collapse of the World Trade Center damaged a major local phone central office. There were thousands of people and businesses without phone service, without communication. Almost a month after hurricane Katrina, there were still nearly 350,000 customers without phone service. As if the devastation of lives and people lost were not enough, without phone service, people were not able to connect with their friends and loved ones. Business owners were not able to conduct business, losing thousands of dollars in revenue needed to help them rebuild their lives. By planning ahead for the next disaster, some of these families and businesses would be able to have an emergency back up communications system in place that would allow them to start communicating right away. An emergency back up phone system should have: a toll free number, outgoing and incoming message capabilities, be located out of your area, and be virtual with web based access.

A toll free number is going to allow anyone from any location, even a pay phone, to call into that number free of charge. For those people considering an emergency phone system for their family, you need to consider the possibility that you and your family may get separated during a disaster. If this happens, they may be able to find a pay phone and leave a message at the toll free number about their status and location. A local number is going to require a pocketful of change that they might not have on them. For businesses, the same may be true. If your employees need to call in to get status updates or check in with you, a toll free number will let them do so regardless of where they end up making that call from.

A phone system with outgoing messaging capabilities is going to be important in any number of scenarios. One situation where outbound messaging would be useful is when you are able to call out, but others cannot call in. For example, in a lock down situation where phone lines are not disabled, but you are not able to field calls from concerned parties, a status update can be left as an outgoing message. Another example would be a business that is still operating from their location, but the phone lines to their direct location are down. They can let their customers know they are still there to serve them.

With inbound voicemail capabilities, an emergency phone system can be used as a place to check in. With one central place to call and report status to your friends, family, business associates, etc. there will be less confusion. Everyone can use one toll free number and leave voicemail messages letting others know that they are okay and where they are.

The necessity of having your emergency phone system hosted by a company outside of your area is a smart idea for obvious reasons. If they are down the street from you when the disaster strikes, they are not going to be in any better shape than you are. If however, they are hundreds of miles away, they will be untouched by the emergency and ready to handle your calls. This is also why you will want your toll free number to be virtual.

A virtual phone number is not tied to one place. It is not affected by anything that happens to your local phone lines. A virtual phone number will be able to be forwarded to any other local number you wish. So, if your local lines are damaged but you have cell service, you can forward calls that come into your virtual toll free number to your cell phone. This would also allow you to transfer calls to a satellite office that was unaffected by the disaster so that they can continue to serve clients. A virtual toll free number will also be able to receive an unlimited number of calls at one time. In times of an emergency, you do not want people getting busy signals.

Lastly, with a virtual number you will be able to change forwarding numbers, load recordings, and check voicemail messages online. A scenario when this would be useful is if your headquarters are located at the heart of the disaster area, but you have other offices in an unaffected area. In this situation, someone can remotely access the virtual emergency phone system, activate it, upload outgoing messages to update callers on the status of the situation, give them direction of what to do next, enter in phone numbers where calls can be forwarded and received, etc.

Nobody wants to think about the possibility of disaster striking them where they work and live. However, the past few years have shown us that it is a very real possibility that we need to be prepared for. One of the major things that families and businesses alike need to consider is how they are going to maintain communications with friends, family, customers, employees and the world at large in an emergency. An emergency phone system will give you the ability to leave a message for others letting them know you are okay or open for business, allow others to leave voicemail messages that can be accessed by multiple users, have your calls forwarded to another location that has working phone service, and more. When a disaster strikes, the faster you can start communicating, the faster you can start moving forward again. 

The creation of any kind of new company is a very fun and scary feeling because people do not know what is going to happen in the future to the company. Many new entrepreneurs soon start to understand how complex it is to create a business and more importantly the great task of getting the company off and running. The ability to keep the business going and to have consistent success can be quite a challenging task.

There are many different kinds of entrepreneurs in the world and even many different kinds of businesses that can be created, but there will always be company difficulties and failures that arise throughout the challenging process. Several business owners get their dreams too high and suffer when the realities of starting a new business soon sink in. They find it too much to take and do not see any bit of light at the end of the tunnel.

Starting a new type of company can be very tedious and complex and often cause several different kinds of discouragements. Many people are quick to quit the business even before it begins to take flight. With perseverance, a person is able to get through the hard times of starting a business and can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

When creating a new company, people should remember to have a positive attitude at all times. Having a positive attitude enlightens a person’s perspective on things and brings a spirit of positive thinking to the business. This proper attitude and mental state of mind can also bring about a business’ success.

Companies that exhibit the essential qualities of fearlessness, wisdom, and a strong motivation to achieve success will be able to increase their profits and success. Careful planning and preparation must take place in order to obtain true success as a business or company. Business owners who have the qualities of perseverance, patience, and motivation will become very influential to the overall success of their businesses.

The quality of fearlessness should be adopted, and the lack of motivation should be replaced with a motivation to succeed and to work extremely hard. With these types of qualities, a business will have high hopes of succeeding.

All of these various characteristics and traits can definitely lead to a business’s potential for growth, but it can also help new business owners handle inevitable failures and a business crisis. These types of things are inevitable, but the way that a person handles them will determine half the battle. There are a few positive things that a person can do to better cope with business problems.

Unfortunate events will ultimately occur in the life of any business, but a person must try to stay positive and calm, because being too depressed or even angry will make the matter much worse. Try to look at the problem from all different angles and try to understand what exactly is going on. When a person is able to see a problem from all perspectives, there is a higher probability that he or she will be able successful overcome the difficulties and potential problems.

In the volatile world we live in today, any business in the world could be jeopardised by any number of external influences, how can you prepare your business correctly to cope with the unexpected crises that could occur at any time.

With the western world being on a constantly heightened security alert, natural disasters occurring more and more frequently and other threats that have not even been predicted, today’s world is a risky place to live in. However with careful planning and foresight, your business and stakeholders do not have to be kept in the dark about possible dangers, problems or risks.

Reliable communication plays a significant role in resolving incidents successfully, and minimising disruption. During times of desperation, simple, clear communication can be a huge life saver. It is human nature to panic when unexpected disasters strike, but as Rudyard Kipling’s poem ‘If’ concurs, “If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs” you will be able to remain calm, think logically and make the best possible judgments.

The tragic events of the London bombings on the 07/07/2005 not only killed many innocent people but caused mayhem throughout London, and effected many other places in the world. Due to the attacks, most of the mobile phone networks in the UK either did not have any service or had very limited service, this compounded the problems, making communication near impossible. Fortunately the emergency services relied on a separate system which stood up to the extreme circumstances and allowed effective communications between all rescue parties, the London Underground, hospitals, police and other authorities.

In addition to the emergency services, hundreds of corporate businesses relied on the same system as part of their own incident and business continuity. Thousands of businesses across London were kept informed through the city of London Bombwatch scheme.

Any successful business will know the importance of its staff, usually the knowledge, training and experience of the staff means it is the single most important asset of a company. Since staff members are so crucial, is it not worth taking every precaution in order to protect them from any possible threat? Demonstrating that a company is totally committed to the safety of its staff could also be a huge motivational booster and incentive to work for that company!

A business that is not prepared is completely vulnerable to any unexpected glitch, and will most likely be hit with severe financial problems trying to get back on track. It is a legal requirement for establishments to have a fire evacuation plan and perform regular drills, so why not take the initiative to go one step further and invest in a reliable communications backup to cope in any situation. It’s an unfortunate representation of the modern world that such precautions are necessary, but for the added peace of mind and security, every business should not take any chances.

Any competent business management planning will include a plan for potential disasters. Disasters come in all shapes and sizes and at any given moment. Disaster plans help to reduce the negative impact that the company will face in such hard times. Crisis management planning is the component to disaster recovery that can make or break the future of the business.

Creating a Crisis Management Planning Team to handle any and all potentially disastrous situations should be a top priority for business management planning. This team will absorb all of the research, planning, and develop of disaster recovery plans.

The first thing the team will want to do is identify what threats there are to the company. What disasters, foreseen and unforeseen, can demolish the business? For example, consider the physical location of the business. Is the business on a potential flood plain? Are earthquakes a possibility? Do tornados frequent the area in the Spring? Successful business management planning relies heavily on the ability to handle these crisis situations.

Next, your team needs to identify what to do to prevent a disaster (if possible), handle a disaster as it is occurring, and recover from the disaster. This is where details are extremely important. In the event that the Crisis Management Planning Team determines that there is potential for a terrorist threat, a detailed prevention plan is crucial.

Steps indicating the business management practices that should occur or should not occur will help with the prevention. This may sound over simplistic but is very necessary. Sometimes stating things that may seem like common sense to one will help the entire group to understand that which they did not know or consider before. The Crisis Management Planning Team needs to indicate what programs and firewalls need implementation.

The language that the team uses in the disaster plans should be simplistic. So simple, as a matter of fact, that a 3rd grader could understand it. In disaster situations, panic is high and logical thinking is low. The plan needs to state simply what the employees need to do without too much thought into interpreting the directives.

After creating the plan(s), your team needs to test the plan. That is verifying that the plan is workable. Many times in business, a strategy or concept may look very appropriate on paper but in the real world, falls to pieces instantly. In a disaster situation, this cannot happen. Too much is at stake.

Testing the plan(s) and holding drills on a routine basis is a good investment in business management planning when it comes to disaster recovery. In the world of Science and Technology, scientist test and retest theories and experiments to ensure that the results are consistent. Fluke occurrences are possible with anything. The same holds true in the business world.

Putting the plan in writing and making it accessible to all employees is the last step for success crisis management planning. It is important to realize that while employees may do a specific job, in a disaster setting, there are no longer boundaries of what will happen based on job titles and classifications. Everyone is in the same boat and everyone needs to be aware the location of the lifeboats.

Owning a business is not without its risks and the current global financial downturn has certainly seen many companies either facing insolvency or, at best, in need of some serious restructuring in order to survive. For business owners in this position the outlook may appear grim, but in spite of the stress a failing business can bring, there is some good news.

Business owners can feel some comfort in the fact that there is help available to assist them in turning their company around. There are many specialists on hand that are primarily concerned with corporate recovery and restructuring and they use their knowledge and expertise to analyse failing companies and formulate a concise plan to set them on a path to financial healing.

Corporate recovery specialists are professionals who have qualifications and experience in the economic sector. These people, generally with backgrounds in accounting, undertake the task of systematically analysing all areas of a business and putting together a set of strategies for business owners to implement in order to rescue a deteriorating business. Enlisting the help of such experts can dramatically ease pressures faced by company owners or directors and can free them up to purely concentrate on implementing the rescue plan.

At times the rescuing of a declining company requires the enlistment of a team of specialists. These teams will be made up of professionals from a variety of backgrounds in business, finance and corporate law. Each team member will utilise the skills they have in their particular field in order to examine the options available to the business. Quite often these corporate recovery teams may be required to act as mediators between company owners and directors, employees, stakeholders and clients. Rescue teams may need to look at ways a company can obtain credit, acquire investments and/ or secure stable business partnerships. They will generally need to develop a more effective structure within the company and consider how they can rebuild the reputation of the business in order to instil confidence and trust in stakeholders and clients.

Rescuing a company from financial meltdown is a challenging task, yet it is one that can also be extremely rewarding for those assigned with the job. Turning a business around and watching it rebuild is what competent recovery specialists do. For most business owners this is their livelihood and many cannot afford to close the doors on a failing business and in most instances turning to specialists to help save their business makes perfect business sense.