Ian Reynolds-Young spoke to Nicky Saunders, Director of Mechshop Ltd, on the subject of planning for a disaster…
Have you got a disaster recovery plan in place? Do you know what would happen to your business if – God forbid – your premises were burnt to the ground, flooded out or demolished by a runaway HGV?
You’ll have heard of Mechshop. The company is an MEI UK Vending distributor and Authorized Service Agent that’s been plying its trade throughout the UK and in Europe for more than twenty-five years.
Then, at the beginning of January 2014, Mechshop suffered a huge fire at its Alcester head office – that was bad enough to make the local newspaper.
Mechshop Director Nicky Saunders takes up the story: ‘We had to vacate immediately, but we managed to establish a temporary trading address and to restart workshop repairs within five days of the fire.
‘Our insurers were astonished and very impressed at our ability to maintain our services through such an upheaval’, she says. ‘We’ve always made a point of holding company data off site and that’s what saved the day. Fortunately, we managed to salvage some equipment from the ground floor, which was protected by a fire-rated floor above the seat of the fire. We were also able to switch our systems via a spare server, to our sister office at Mechshop South in Croydon.’
Nicky’s comments prove that planning pays – but she’s eager to praise the contribution of Mechshop’s employees because, when push came to shove, ‘they really delivered.’
‘Our staff gave us great support’, Nicky said. ‘They continued to work at their best in a very restricted space and of course I have to pay tribute to all our clients and suppliers who stood by us.’
Grim days indeed – but Nicky says there has been a silver lining… ‘Not only did we trade normally through the rebuild with improved results over the previous year’, she said, ‘but we’ve ended up with brand new premises that are now tailored specifically for our business needs, including a bespoke workshop where our clients’ coin mechanism repairs can be carried out.
‘Having said all that’, Nicky admits – ‘I hope we never have to go through that again.’
So, let’s end where we began: Have you got a disaster recovery plan in place?
