Businesses

Statistics

While it is true that emergency preparedness can cost your business money, not planning at all can cost your business much more. Take a look at these statistics:

  • A company that experiences a computer outage lasting more than 10 days will never fully recover financially. 50 percent will be out of business in 5 years.
  • An estimated 25% of businesses do not reopen following a major disaster.
  • 70% of small firms that experience a major data loss go out of business within a year.
  • Of companies experiencing catastrophic data loss:
  • 43% never reopened
  • 51% of companies closed within 2 years
  • 75% of companies without business continuity plans fail within 3 years of a disaster
  • 80% of companies that do not recover from a disaster within one month are likely to go out of business
  • Companies that aren't able to resume operations within ten days of a disaster are not likely to survive
  • Of those businesses that experience a disaster and have no emergency plan, 43 percent never reopen; only 29 percent are still operating two years later

Those are some sobering statistics (PDF), but they are just that: statistics. It is human nature for us to say, "That will never happen to me." Just think for a moment if it did. The physical aspects of your business are one thing, but what about all of the time, energy, and sleepless nights that you put into building your business' name and reputation. It is impossible to put a monetary value on that, and no insurance company will pay you for the effort you put into your company. This is why planning and preparing for a possible disaster is so important; we want to protect not only the physical part of the business, but the intangible assets as well.

Depending on Businesses

Every day Teton County depends heavily upon local businesses for nearly all aspects of daily life. This dependence will grow exponentially during a disaster when resources are needed for rebuilding and recovery. If Teton County lost one out of every four businesses after a disaster (as the statistics state), it would be catastrophic not only for the economy, but for the residenthttps://www.ready.gov/business/implementation/continuitys and visitors of Teton County as well.

What Else Can You Do

For more information, visit Ready.gov's business page. There you will find:

If you have any questions about emergency preparedness, planning, or response in regards to your business, contact us in Emergency Management by email or call 307-733-9572.