Prepare for the unexpected

A disaster struck several nurseries in Singapore on Dec. 20. Heavy rains hit the island-state and disrupted operations of these small and midsize businesses located in low-lying areas prone to floods.

Among the affected businesses was FarEastFlora.com which won ZDNet Asia's SMB of the Year award in 2006.







Photos courtesy of FarEastFlora.com

The impact of the record-high rainfalls was severe. Christmas trees, plants, hampers, furniture and computers were washed away or destroyed. Damages and losses suffered by the nurseries were estimated at S$1.5 million (US$980,000), according to a news article in The Sunday Times.

Photos of the damaged goods, furniture and office equipment were heartwrenching, and my first thought was whether the companies had backed up their critical business data. Physical goods and equipment can be replaced but not valuable business and customer data that have been collected and compiled over the years.

News of the flash floods, however, were drowned out by another disaster a week later. An earthquake measuring 7.1 on the Richter scale hit Taiwan on Boxing Day and damaged undersea cables. Businesses and Internet surfers were affected as telecommunications and Internet services in East Asia were disrupted, which brought home the eerie reminder of how reliant we are today on information and communications networks--for both work and play.

These December events also remind us of exactly what BCP specialist Nathaniel Forbes has been driving home these past six months, which is the importance of preparing for unplanned events that could severely disrupt business. How prepared are you? Share your views and plans for 2007.

• Talkback
• Print
• E-mail
• Share
• Alerts

Slashdot

Digg

Facebook

Twitter

Delicious

reddit

Google

StumbleUpon

close this

Talkback 0 comments

• Will technology divide us further?
• Don't CC me, I'll CC you
• Where have all the bosses gone?
• What Y2K can teach us about 2012
• Learning to embrace Net without fear

• Why tech should play like jazz
• In death do we digitally depart
• Learning to embrace Net without fear
• Shhh, but I ain't no Apple fanboy
• Not all employees are created equal

2009

2008

2007

2006

• Will technology divide us further?
• Buying a projector? Try an LED TV instead
• Lift-and-shift: Resurgence or flame-out
• Time to map out
• Ultimate 2012 recovery site: the moon

Eileen Yu

Eileen Yu began covering the IT industry when Asynchronous Transfer Mode was still hip and e-commerce was the new buzzword. These days, she gets stirred up over issues concerning Internet regulation, intellectual property rights and software patents, online privacy and data protection. Eileen is senior editor at ZDNet Asia, where she oversees the business tech news site.