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Prepare Your Business For Crisis

A business cannot be deemed successful at its peak. In fact, in order to call a business a success, one must analyze it when it hits rock bottom and still manages to pull through and survive. With natural disasters, the threat of terrorism and the constantly changing economy it seems like every business is bound to go through a trying time. But are all businesses ready for disaster to strike? In business, preparation is crucial for ultimate success. Despite a year of natural disasters and organizational crises, only two in three companies are prepared to manage and respond to the next crisis that affects them, according to a recent survey conducted by the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC).

The survey also reports strong support for crisis communication plans: An overwhelming 99 percent of respondents who had crisis plans found them to be effective in dealing with crises in 2005. Additionally, if a crisis occurred tomorrow, 80 percent of respondents said implementing a crisis communication plan would help limit the overall negative impact on business. According to the IABC survey of over 600 communicators, one in three companies did not have a formal crisis communication plan in 2005. After experiencing a crisis with no plans in place, 46 percent of respondents said their organizations were beginning to develop crisis communication plans, while 42 percent said their organizations were still taking no action.

Of the communicators who work in organizations without crisis communication plans, 54 percent said they didn?t have plans because of lack of senior management support.The crisis communication survey was conducted by Robert Holland, ABC, owner of Holland Communication Solutions LLC, and Katrina Gill, president and founder of Gill Research LLC, in collaboration with the IABC Research Foundation.
The survey reported that 69 percent of the organizations that had crisis communication plans implemented these plans in response to crisis events in 2005. Almost all respondents who had crisis communication plans found them to be in responding to crisis situations.