Articles

Ready for a Robbery:
The Last Thing You Need Is the First Thing You Should Prepare For

By Robert E. McLean, CAE

Imagine it's a Sunday morning and you get a call from your office building management company. Several offices in your building were broken into the day before—including yours. Computers may have been taken, file cabinets broken into, and who knows what else has been stolen. Are you ready for this nightmare? You may have locks and insurance, as I did, but that probably not enough to help keep your cool when such a disaster occurs.

In recent years many of us have responded to such potentially large disasters as Y2K, or considered what we would do if a 9/11-type disruption occurred in your area. Have we forgotten the importance of being ready for less “glamorous” problems? For example, if a power outage hits your building for several days, what's your plan for keeping your client associations—and yourself—in business? And if key technological devices take a walk, what backup plans do you have in place?

A Test of Organization

This was the situation I faced last December, and my response was a serious test of well organized I and my company were. I've experienced robbery before, so emotionally I was better prepared than most of my fellow tenants. But would I be prepared to conduct business Monday morning? To contact the insurance company? To replace the stolen goods, and react to any stolen financial documents?

Insurance First

When it comes to emergency preparedness, the littlest details are often the easiest to overlook. I had insurance on my office equipment, of course. What I didn't have was the agent's name and phone number at my home. The records were at the office, and the police weren't letting anyone in the building until Monday, after they'd finished examining the crime scene.

Once you get your agent on the phone, you'll need a lot of information that can take time to collect. A copy of the police report is the one essential bit of information. You may, as we did, have to go to the county courthouse to get a copy (and they are not always free). You'll also need a copy of the declaration page of the insurance policy and receipts of the stolen merchandise.

There's a second source of insurance for recent purchases. Many credit card companies will pay to replace items recently purchased (usually 90 days). To file a claim you'll need much the same information as the insurance company requires, including the date and place of purchase. This coverage pays up to the deductible limit of your property insurance.

Acknowledgements Are Not Receipts

Are you, like most companies, ordering computer equipment online or over the phone? If so, you may never receive an invoice—unless you ask for one. When my insurer asked for a copy of the invoice, I discovered that I had an acknowledgement email and a packing slip (which, at the top, screams in boldface type This Is Not an Invoice). You can request an invoice by phone, or in some cases go to the vendors website, enter the order number, and receive an invoice by email, mail or fax.

Backups and More Backups

Most large organizations back up their computer data nightly; smaller companies are more likely to back up their systems weekly. How often should you? Well you're your PC walks out of the office, how difficult would your life be if you had to recreate key documents? Could you survive without email messages from the last several days?

Fortunately for me, the thieves found my new flat panel monitor attractive, but not the CPU. Had the tower been among the stolen goods, however, I'd have been inconvenienced, but also protected. Just the night before the robbery I had done a complete data file backup on CD (including emails and my accounting software). My hard disk, which contains some sensitive financial information for my company and the associations I manage, was password protected.

Policies and Procedures—A Must

How you'll respond to a crisis like the one I experienced can be easily predictable if your organization has the one document we usually insist on our client associations having on hand: a policies and procedures manual. This document was a work in progress when I was robbed, and was substantially improved based on the lessons learned during the aftermath. There are several key bits of information you'll want to include in your manual:
The name and phone number of your insurance agent, and your policy number. The name and phone number of your bank (in the event checks are stolen).
A list if your more expensive (and easy to resell) technology devices, including serial numbers, the order number and the phone number of your salesperson.
A list of all corporate credit card numbers and the phone number to call if they, or your credit card records, are stolen.
The phone number to call if you need your phone lines temporary transferred to your home or some other location until you can reenter your office.

What if . . . ?

Your work can be interrupted by more than theft. Fire or power outages can also keep your business from operating for several days or even weeks. What if it happens to you? Are you prepared to keep your AMC operating in the face of a disaster, large or small? Test yourself by having a staff meeting to ask several what-if questions:
What if the PCs were stolen?
What if our paper records were lost in a fire?
What if you just can't get into your office building for a day or a week?

Take the time now to answer these questions and you'll be prepared to cope with workplace interruptions and without anxiety or interruptions.

Robert E. McLean, CAE, is president of REM Association Services, an association management company located in Arlington, VA (near the nation's Capitol). He is a former member of the leadership of the AMC Institute and is currently in a leadership role with the American Society of Association Executives. McLean is a registered lobbyist who trains more than 5,000 grassroots lobbyists annually. REM manages numerous nonprofits, including national associations, societies, and foundations. The AMC also has several consulting clients, frequently facilitating strategic planning programs.