By Trevor Thomas

How will your business brave the storm?

In the face of meteorological disruption, most businesses will board up their windows and close up shop. However, when disruption stems from new technology or globalization, as it often does, it’s more important than ever to serve your customers and keep your business profitable.

How? Hawaii showed us that it all starts with preparation.

“It wasn’t raining when Noah built the Ark,” said Brad Kieserman, Vice President for Disaster Operations with the American Red Cross.[1] As of today, no casualties have been reported, there have been no sustained large-scale power outages, food and water supplies have remained sufficient, and Hawaii, for the most part, has proven to be resilient in the face of disaster. As business people, we can learn a thing or two from the profound sense of urgency and dedication to preparation that helped the response team brace Hawaii’s first hurricane in over 25 years.

For instance, one of the first actions of Oahu’s Emergency Operations Center was to set up a call center for residents with questions or concerns about the onset of Hurricane Lane. The 24-hour hotline fielded nearly 230 calls on its first day of operation alone.[2]

Listen to Your Customers

Just like Oahu prepared to listen to its residents during times of change, you must prepare to listen to your customers when disruption is on the horizon. The ability to collect and act on customer feedback in real-time is critical, and that’s just the beginning.

Plan Communication

Not only must you hear your customers, but they must also hear you. Look again at Hawaii: to get through this disaster, emergency operations established several private sector partnerships within the telecommunications industry to make sure emergency personnel and residents could continue to communicate even when the storm was at its worst. If you fail to plan communication with your customers, your business will fail to manage change.

Manage Your Business Relationships as Assets

Clearly, disaster response is a team effort and, in a lot of ways, preparing your business for disruption is no different. Partnerships with grocery wholesalers allowed Hawaii to stockpile food, water, and other supplies in preparation of trade port interruptions. [3] The Hawaiian Electric Companies partnered with utilities organizations to prepare for power outages, as well.[4]^,[5] During these times, it has never been more important to manage your business relationships as assets. Disruption is not an event; rather, it’s a process that will test the strength of your most critical business relationships.

But if you adequately prepare to communicate with and listen to your key customers, you’re likely to emerge from disruption with the same customers you went into it with – and they’ll likely be more loyal than ever.

How will your business brave the storm?