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Small Business Case Study
SMALL BUSINESS CASE STUDY
Equity Technologies Corporation knows what it means to be prepared. Located in Mobile, Alabama,
the company has long had plans and procedures in place to counter the threat posed by hurricanes
and other severe weather. For instance, Equity Technologies promotes family and individual
preparedness and has set up a means of communicating with employees when dangerous weather
threatens. Employees carry laminated cards with contact information for supervisors and a voice
recorded call-in number with updates about the company's status.
But it was the risk of Y2K related disturbances that motivated Equity Technologies to get serious
about its disaster preparedness and business continuity plans. "We are a small company which
does business around the world. To be competitive my clients must feel confident that we are ready
for anything," said Equity Technologies Corporation's President and CEO Cathy Anderson-Giles.
"It wasn't hard to put together a plan, you just have to make it a priority."
First the company identifed workers to serve as key contacts for the 72-employee operation. These
key contacts then established safety and security teams which analyzed Equity Technologies
Corporation's entire emergency process.
The teams realized that communication between the company and the outside world was the single
most important operational factor in an emergency. As a result, Equity Technolgies purchased
generators to power the phone system during utility outages and trained co-workers to set them up
within seven minutes. Not only does the company have emergency plans and procedures in place,
it has made a commitment to review the plans and tools each year at the start of the hurricane
season. "We have the annual review on our corporate calendar," said Anderson-Giles. "Being
prepared means being ready for any kind of emergency, be it hurricane, utility disruption or
man-made disaster."