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Every summer, Steve Perkins calls together his coworkers at The Conservancy of Southwest Florida for

a sobering meeting. Perkins, the nonprofit’s data coordinator, paints the group

a mental picture of a disaster wrecking its Naples office. Then he assigns them

jobs to do before a storm hits and after it has passed.

“The important thing is that you can get back to business,”

Perkins tells his coworkers. “You want at least some semblance of business as

fast as possible.”

Surprisingly few area businesses hold such meetings, despite

the likelihood of tornadoes, floods, hurricanes, and now, terrorist attacks.

Disaster readiness plans like the Conservancy’s are important tools for

businesses that hope to return to work after a calamity strikes.

Since Sept. 11, more business managers have realized the

need to protect their technology from disasters, says Carol Conway, owner of

CRS Technology, a Cape Coral-based company that helps corporations prepare for

the worst. “Mostly, businesses worry about it after something happens,” Conway

says. “Not enough people are doing enough to ensure they can recover quickly

from small or large disasters.”

Poorly prepared businesses affect not only themselves and

their employees. Businesses that fail to get up and running after a disaster

can lower the community’s tax base, says Ken Pineau, Collier County’s emergency

management director. “After Hurricane Andrew, 78,000 businesses were affected,

and many of them didn’t reopen, or moved,” he says. “We want to keep our money

here to prevent having some drastic change to the tax base.”

Experts say a good disaster plan should:

• Assign teams to take on tasks after storms or attacks. One

team should call each employee to make sure everything’s all right, for

instance, while another cleans the offices.

• Make provisions for cell phones or radio backups that may

need to be used until land lines are restored. Employees with technical

experience may need these lines of communication the most because they’ll be

repairing equipment.

• Allow time to take out cash before storms. The money may

be needed to help employees whose homes have been damaged or destroyed pay for

places to stay, to buy food for staff stuck at the office, or to pay salaries.

Businesses should have enough cash to last at least two weeks.

• Specify an alternate site where the business can operate

until the main office reopens. Small businesses can pick the home of an

employee who lives on high ground. Bigger oper-ations should set up computer

workstations in production facilities or in smaller offices.

• Designate a location to store backup data. Many

businesses copy information to CDs or tapes, but often these records are left

on someone’s desk, in a car, or carelessly stored. A safe deposit box offers a

dry spot, but may not be accessible on weekends or at night. Several companies,

such as SunGard Data Systems and IBM’s Global Services, offer off-site storage.

Conway warns that disaster plans should include more than

prepara-tions for weather-related tragedies. Businesses must also prepare for

accidental damage to technology and for deliberate damage by disgruntled

employees or hackers.

Several companies specialize in helping business owners

create disaster plans, including K.S. Hamlin & Associates, an information

technology consulting firm. Owner Karl Hamlin, a part-time Naples resident,

warns that companies that prepare plans themselves often are unaware of new

threats. Few prepared for terrorist attacks before Sept. 11, for instance.

Hamlin says many businesses prepare disaster plans only

after being forced by auditors, government regulators or new partners. “It

isn’t always voluntary. Usually, someone in a higher authority realizes, ‘Wait

a minute. We’ve got a good risk of losing information here,’” says Hamlin. His

company charges $5,000 for a basic disaster plan.

Computer consultants say companies that aren’t prepared for

the worst may have a difficult time getting help afterward. “Firms like mine

will be very popular after a disaster because everyone wants to get back and

running as quickly as possible,” Conway says.

At the Conservancy, Perkins’ yearly meeting to assign

employees tasks after disasters is held with help from the county’s emergency

management office. The Conservancy’s detailed plan includes a laundry list of

which tasks should be completed based on how many hours a hurricane is from

hitting Naples. As the storm approaches, employees disconnect computers and put

them in plastic bags.

“You always look to make your disaster plan work as smoothly

as possible,” Perkins says. “You want to avoid the chaos after a storm because

it’s all about getting back up and working as quickly as you can.”

On the Web:

CRS Technology’s Protect Your Technology Tips Page:

www.crsonline.net/seminars_training.htm

Disaster Recovery Journal:

www.drj.com

Florida Division of Emergency Management:

www.floridadisaster.org