Every year, as the Atlantic hurricane season approaches many businesses have a nagging realization that they are at risk due to a catastrophic “Black Swan ” event. Black Swan events are a constant source of risk in states like Florida where many communities are subject to disruption due to coastal storms. This risk is particularly acute for businesses that depend on the storage of on-line data if there is a chance their critical data could become lost or corrupted admin
. But the threat from Black Swan events isn’t limited to Florida, nor is it limited to large scale disruptive events like hurricanes.The black swan theory or theory of black swan events describes a disruptive event that comes as a surprise, has a major effect, and is often inappropriately rationalized after the fact with the benefit of hindsight. The term is based on an ancient saying which presumed black swans did not exist, but the saying was rewritten after black swans were discovered in the wild. Consider the following scenario…
“We tend to think of disasters in terms of the attacks on the World Trade Center, Hurricane Katrina, or other mega events. Sometimes, however, less notable events occur that can have a catastrophic effect on a business. In February 1981, an electrical fire in the basement of the State Office Building in Binghamton, New York, spread throughout the basement of the building setting fire to a transformer containing over a thousand gallons of toxin-laden oil. Originally thought to be PCBs, the toxins were soon determined to contain dioxin and dibenzofuran, two of the most dangerous chemicals ever created. The fire was smoky and quickly filled the 18-story building with smoke. As the transformer burned, the soot entered the buildings ventilation shafts and quickly spread toxic soot throughout the building. The building was so badly contaminated that it took 13 years and over $47 million to clean before the building could be reentered or used. Because of the nature of the fire, the building and its contents, including all paper records, computers, and personal effects of the people who worked there, were not recoverable. This type of event would be irrecoverable for many businesses.” – Operations Due Diligence, Published by McGraw Hill
What affect would a catastrophic hurricane that affected an entire region or a localized disruptive event like a fire have on the operation of your business? Could you survive that kind of interruption or loss? As the dependence on on-line data has grown in virtually every type of business, so has the risk that loss of their data could disrupt the operation of the business and even result in its complete failure. In response to these threats, there has been an evolution in the approaches used to mitigate these risks as the volume of on-line data has continued to grow. Originally, the concept of Disaster Recovery (DR) emerged as a mitigation strategy that focused on the recovery of critical data after a disruptive event by giving the business the ability to restore disrupted IT operations.
Disaster Recovery (DR) involves a set of policies and procedures that enable the restoration of critical business data and allows the IT infrastructure to be restored to a prior state. DR was originally seen as the domain of the IT department who were given responsibility for mitigating the risk. To minimize the risk, system backups were scheduled frequently and aggressive DR plans that included server cold start procedures and data backups were implemented.
Running any business alone can be self-fulfilling for every entrepreneur but equally as tough and impossible to successfully manage. With this in mind, hiring a business coach is always a smart move because the opinion of an expert enables and facilitates businesses to reach their full potential. The business coaching industry in the US has grown in recent decades to a worth of over $12 billion highlighting its impact and the need to find the best business coach for your business so as to unlock maximum potential.
Hiring a qualified coach can improve leadership and facilitate expansion in domains of fundraising and project management. However, there exist many important considerations in finding the best or ideal coach for your business. These considerations include;
Cost is a very important consideration in the selection of an ideal business coach and it most often depends on factors like specialty, of expertise and location. Although experts are usually very expensive, it’s possible to find affordable cost effective coaches. For and other social businesses, investing time and effort could easily find low pay experts who could offer coaching services as support of causes. Before even setting out in search of a coach, it’s necessary to study your budget and clearly allocate what can be used for coaching services so as to prevent over-extension into debt.
When sampling potential coaches for any business, key to make sure those with the best fit for your business are the target. For example, hiring an ideal non-profit coach would entail narrowing to affordable coaches in the social business domain with proven track records of success. This can be assisted by personal and social feedback recommendations in combination with actual discussions with these potential coaches.
This is a slightly complicated consideration when looking at getting a business coach because the dedicated time engagements are usually very much dependent on expertise, and location. However, ensuring the arrangement of quality and long enough time with your coach increases the effectiveness of the relationship. Furthermore, time for meetings and follow up work must be set aside to make the best out of the coaching.