At 9pm on Tuesday evening, we had a power failure. This is very unusual, and we did all the usual things from checking our supply and trip-switches to ringing EDF. The fault was traced to a damaged underground cable and was fixed by about 11am the next morning.
As a consultant in, amongst other things, Risk Management I'm pleased to say that I had already considered the scenario of a power failure. Being in the centre of London, I have many options available to me. I have, however, made some effort into ensuring that I can continue to work in difficult circumstances. My backups are available remotely and incoming mail is scanned into my filing system - so I am in a position to take my laptop, find a new space with power and an internet connection, and start work.
Power failure, however irritating, is one of the easiest incidents to deal with. With my interest in risk, I have considered fire, theft, flood, regulatory problems, PR issues, professional problems, client issues etc etc etc
If you haven't done all of this - and done it in a systematic manner - you really must. If you are a partner in a firm and don't know for certain that your firm has all of this in place - ask now. Sadly I suspect that many firms would have a somewhat embarrassed reply to that question. It is never too late to sort your risk management out.
Mar-aon Consulting can help with your risk management - and provide a pragmatic, workable system fit for your firm. See www.mar-aon.co.uk for more details.
