Disaster Recovery - Think Wider!

In 2019 economic losses from 409 natural disasters exceeded $232 billion.  But it isn’t just natural disasters that we have to worry about.   In the past, retailers thought about computer centres and warehouses being badly impacted, for example, but latterly a series of different shocks is concerning retailers and consumer goods manufacturers.  They include:

• Wars in Ukraine and Gaza
• Interruption of sea transport through climate change, missile attacks and a collision blocking the port of Baltimore
• Regulatory challenges
• Windfall profit taxes
• The scale of remote working and the exposures it creates, especially for cyber security and real estate companies.  Their pain from the legacy of the pandemic is yet to come.
• Climate change, resulting in hurricanes, floods, fires, and serious water shortages in some countries
• Earthquakes
• A pessimist might also include threats from private equity firms
• Insufficient cashflow, liquidity and reserves to withstand setbacks outside anything otherwise considered “normal.

So, when thinking about disaster recovery, or business continuity as it is often referred to, start with a much wider risk analysis than you might have done in the past.  Then you can consider the inter-relationships between these factors more fully and develop more robust plans.  

Planning cannot eliminate all risks, but the better your planning, the less exposed you will be.

You can read a longer version of this minute with more detailed insight at Retail and Consumer Goods Industry WIKI and EPSS, if you or your company have a licence.