Has the BIG FREEZE cost your business BIG BUCKS?

The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has estimated that the recent bad weather, widespread commuter disruption and school closures, has cost the UK business economy at least 600 million a day and that a business continuity plan could be your answer to such severe weather disruption.

Only around 10 percent of businesses are completing continuity plans due to the financial pressures of the recession, but this isnt the first and wont be the last time that productivity is impacted due to the weather. Unions and management groups are urging firms to better prepare to ensure that they can maintain a competitive advantage in any situation.

Jon Dabbs, Director of Chesterfield based IT solutions company, ra Information Systems, offers his advice on how other businesses need to avoid disruption by planning in advance, making a difference to maintaining services and productivity in adverse weather conditions.

He states At ra Information Systems we believe that it is important to put in place contingency plans for these types of occasions and as such disruption can be avoided.  We can help other businesses to look at their existing computing models and the low-cost yet effective technologies available to them.

The FSB have also estimated that about 10 percent of the UKs 30 million workforce were unable to get to work during the snow fall in Jan. Noel Kennedy, ra Information Systems Business Development Manager, states Employees make businesses grow and losing key staff because of the weather can be very damaging, particularly in the current economic climate.

With a home broadband connection and by having remote networking facilities a business can easily continue its operations and avoid lost revenue... crucial in any economic environment.

ra Information systems continuity solutions employ advanced technology and focus on reducing exposure risks and improving recovery cycle. A key element to this is helping business to manage areas such as flexible working, disaster recovery and backup solutions as part of their business processes.

Jon Dabbs, Director states Thanks to modern technology and the widespread use of flexible working practices, many employers could gear up to allow staff to work remotely or from home."