Are You Disaster Ready – Design Recreation
Operational resilience for Australian SMEs
Are you
disaster ready?
The real test is not whether you have a plan. It is whether your business can still make good decisions when something important stops.
Two minutes. Seven pressure points. One clear place to start.
Train for consequences,
not disasters.
- 01 People stop
- 02 Systems stop
- 03 Money stops
- 04 Supply stops
- 05 Place stops
- 06 Leadership stops
- 07 Demand changes
01 / The uncomfortable truth
A solid plan can still leave you dangerously unprepared.
It’s been said that “No plan survives first contact with the enemy.” It’s so true!
Floods, cyberattacks, supplier failures and sudden staff shortages look different. Inside your business, they often create the same problem: something you rely on is no longer available.
Preparation starts when your team makes the hard choices before customers, cash and time are on the line.
What you do now will ensure that you don’t fail when everyone else around your does.
Your owner disappears for 30 days.
Your systems are locked.
Your supplier stops answering.
Your premises cannot be reached.
02 / The Business Fire Drill
Put the business under pressure before reality does.
A Business Fire Drill is a practical, facilitated simulation. Your team faces a believable disruption, makes decisions with limited information and discovers whether the business can keep functioning.
Live scenario / Systems stop
08:40 MON
Every computer shows the same message. Your files are encrypted.
Payroll is tomorrow. Email is down. Your largest customer needs an order dispatched by 2 pm.
What does your team do first?
Restore what is critical.Put resources into recovering the systems the business cannot operate without.
The goal is not a perfect answer.
It is a shared way to decide what you protect, change or deliberately stop.
03 / Seven pressure points
Where could your business break first?
Disasters are unpredictable. Their consequences are not. You need to test the tasks that keep your business moving.
You have the chance now to prepare. Prevention IS better than a cure but too many business wait until it’s too late to work that out.
When your future success is on the line, which will you choose?
01
People stop
Key staff, knowledge or authority suddenly becomes unavailable.
OWNER DOWN DRILL
02
Systems stop
Email, customer data, payments or operations go offline.
CYBER LOCKOUT DRILL
03
Money stops
Revenue, banking or payment processing disappears.
EFTPOS FIRE DRILL
04
Supply stops
A critical supplier fails and stock begins to run out.
SUPPLIER DRILL
05
Place stops
Your premises are safe, but nobody can reach or use them.
FLOOD DRILL
06
Leadership stops
No one knows who can make the expensive, urgent calls.
COMMAND DRILL
07
Demand changes suddenly
Orders surge, collapse or shift faster than capacity can follow.
CAPACITY DRILL
04 / Two-minute readiness pulse
How ready will you be when the plan falls apart?
Answer seven practical questions. Be honest. The weakest dependency is often the one nobody talks about.
0 of 7 answered
Your readiness pulse
05 / From plan to proof
Don’t wait for a real crisis to find the gaps.
Bring your leadership team together. Give them a realistic disruption. Watch how they decide, communicate and adapt.
Then turn your weakest pressure point into your first Business Fire Drill.