Decide what has to keep working
Outages feel chaotic when everyone is making decisions at once. A short written plan removes most of that. Start by listing the few things that truly have to keep running. Usually that is taking payments, answering customers, and reaching your team.
Write down the basics
Who decides what happens, and who is their backup?
How will staff be told, if email and chat are down?
Who contacts your provider, and with what account details?
What can staff do manually until service returns?
Consider a backup path
For some businesses, a second connection is worth having. It might be a different type of service, or a mobile backup for critical systems. Ask whether it switches over automatically or needs someone to act.
Keep it honest
Be realistic about what the backup can carry. It may not need to run everything. It only needs to run what you listed above.
Test it once
Try it during a quiet moment. Unplug the main connection and see what happens. You will learn more in ten minutes than from any document, and you will find the password nobody wrote down.
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