Disaster Management: Plan Ahead

Even companies that recognize the need for disaster and continuity planning often aren’t energized about the subject until something goes wrong. Don Rogers, vice president of operations for Chicago-based gadgets cataloger Hammacher Schlemmer, describes his big wake-up call.

“Our mainframe is in Ohio,” he says, “and we had what we thought was a power outage. Somehow the main breakers got cut over a weekend. Our generator, which runs on propane with a natural gas line to back it up, ran out and the gas line failed. So we were out of business. After that, we said, ‘We have to get more serious about this.’”