After the Storm
First-mover advantages don't just accrue to companies that are first to enter a new market; they also accrue to firms that are first to begin rebuilding after a disaster. "Construction materials and resources become exceedingly tight after a disaster," warns Ray Dufresne, vice president of consulting services for VFA Inc., a facilities-management consulting firm. "If you're behind the curve, you're not going to get your work done."
One way to stay ahead of the curve is to make sure you have a readily accessible inventory of your company's buildings and contents, from people to PCs to phones and software systems. Knowing exactly what you have and what's been lost lets you be among the first in line to hire contractors and get started on rebuilding.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. maintains an intranet application, called the Wal-Mart Incident Management Website, which provides a near-real-time summary of what is going on at each facility. The Website allows users to drill down to learn about the status of systems at each store, any physical damage, and issues affecting employees. In the midst of Katrina, Wal-Mart IT staffers created several on-the-fly enhancements, including linking the systems with geographic information systems software that allowed the company to create maps showing which facilities were facing which kinds of problems. — R.M.
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