How long would your business last without IT?

Somewhat scarily, Gartner says that a week without IT would collapse most firms. Apparently, business continuity and disaster recovery plans are not looking far enough ahead. We're not just talking security breaches here, but have you thought about what might happen in the event of a flooding, fire or theft? Also, without wishing to be too much of a harbinger of doom, how about if everyone in your office - including you - gets struck down with the dreaded norovirus?

Your contingency plan may simply be putting a message on your website and on your answerphone, but you might need something more sophisticated.

The government site Preparing for Emergencies may be a good place to start if you're not sure how to start on a business continuity plan. You can download a pdf Management Toolkit, which has been developed specifically for small and medium organisations that are relatively new to business continuity management (BCM).