Allstate has safety and preparation tips for small businesses in case of a disaster
More than 60 Percent of small businesses in America have been rocked by disasters, and the folks from Allstate offer us some solutions on getting prepared. Mark McGillivray, Senior Vice President of Allstate Claims, chatted with Tracy about how we can be disaster-ready and a new App that’s sure to help.
Here is a quick summary by Allstate on just HOW important being prepared can be:
Last year, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) made 78 major disaster and wildfire declarations. The Small Business Majority (SBM) reports “two-thirds or 61 percent of American small businesses have personally seen extreme weather impact their business.” Allstate’s own survey on “What Keeps Small Business Owners Up at Night,” uncovered at least 25 percent of businesses that close due to a disaster, never reopen.
The survey also revealed that the fifth biggest risk small business owners fear is the inability to do business because of physical damage to a building or structure. No one expects the unthinkable to happen, but it can happen to anyone. Business owners must be prepared for a disaster so they can rebuild, repair and reopen their doors as quickly as possible.
With September being Disaster Preparedness Month, now is as good a time as any to start planning. Allstate Business Insurance suggests creating an emergency response plan to dictate the actions you and your employees should take when a disaster occurs, make sure your business is covered, have a disaster recovery plan and establish a crisis communications plans to inform employees and update customers of your company’s status after the disaster.
Another way to prepare is with a new tech tool called Commercial Locker – unveiled by Allstate Business Insurance this year. The free application is available to anyone from the Allstate Commercial Locker website and helps small business owners create an online inventory of their business possessions. Anyone can snap pictures or takes video and records the images along with the brands and serial numbers of office equipment, supplies, furniture, even artwork on the walls. The cubical-by-cubical, digital inventory list can save a lot of headaches – and heartaches – should a catastrophe strike.
For more information, please visit www.allstatenewsroom.com.
SEGMENT IS SPONSORED BY ALLSTATE