The level of complexity required for contingency planning for business premises will largely depend on what is housed at the organisation’s location.
Generally speaking office based functions are far easier to deal with than factory production facilities and those requiring large and expensive plant and machinery.
Planning for Office Based Functions
Broadly speaking the advances in technology has meant that a large range of administrative office functions do not actually have to be carried out from within the confines of a traditional office.
In the event of an emergency it is possible for a busy office complete with large photocopiers, printers and conveniently placed coffee machines to be transformed in to a satellite structure with each employee working from home.
Computers, telephones, internet access and instant messenger services which currently may form a large part of daily lives can also be used to provide a real-time communication structure in the event that the staff are required to work from home.
In this scenario, there may be no substantial effect on a business’ operations if the office premises were suddenly to become unavailable.
As part of the contingency planning process it would obviously be useful to ensure that the key staff have these facilities at their home.
Factory Based Businesses
For businesses which used large or expensive equipment as an important part of their daily operations, the solution might not be an attractive in terms of cost and required resources.
At one end of the scale there might be a fully equipped mirror factory located in another part of the country which could be used should the first line premises become unavailable.
This is a very expensive back-up cushion to maintain and although it might be the idyllic choice, it would effectively double the operating budget for the business. This might result in it not being around long enough to ever experience an emergency sufficient to warrant their use.
A good insurance policy might suffice whereby the business is compensated for loss of earning and is provided with adequate funds to source both premises and the necessary production facilities on a premium basis.
Making Plans
The exact nature of what a business puts in place to cater for the sudden loss of its premises would depend on how the managers view their importance.
The essence of all contingency planning is to how a idea of what you would do and not leave to many elements left to do should the unexpected happen.
Working on the assumption that the worst case happens might encourage some simple yet time consuming actions such as having a list of nearby business parks to be taken now.
This is opposed to working against a backdrop that the managers will have time to start their research from scratch at a time when the whole dynamics of the business just changed overnight.
