Business continuity toolkit

The Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) has developed a new streamlined business continuity program for small businesses that may not have the time or resources to create an extensive plan to recover from business interruptions. IBHS is a leading national expert on preparing for, and repairing, rebuilding, and recovering from catastrophes both large and small. IBHS’ mission is to conduct objective, scientific research to identify and promote effective actions that strengthen homes, businesses, and communities against natural disasters and other causes of loss.

IBHS’ original business continuity program is called Open for Business®, or OFB. The new program, OFB-EZ®, is designed to be simple to use, administer and implement. With OFB-EZ, you can follow the same disaster planning and recovery processes used by larger companies – but without a large company budget. OFB-EZ is user-friendly and does not require any previous experience with or knowledge of business continuity planning.

This toolkit will help you: 1. identify the business activities that are essential for continued operation during a disruption; 2. deal with risks your organization faces; and 3. create an easy-to-use recovery plan tailored to your business, giving you confidence if the worst occurs. Statistics show that one in four businesses forced to close because of a disaster never reopen. Small businesses, which form the backbone of the United States economy, are particularly at risk. IBHS’ ultimate goal is for every small business to prepare a plan that will enable them to withstand and recover from any type of disruption.