What do fire alarms, gas leaks, cut phone lines, football fans, heavy snowfall and cleaners stuck in lifts all have in common?

It's funny how people view situations differently.  The snow over the last few weeks has been great fun for many people, especially some children who have never seen or experienced real snow.  It's great to be able to get out there and play.  On the other hand the disruption to travelling and normal business activities can be severely damaging to companies and individuals.  Does a company need to plan for such events so that it doesn't suffer any disruption to operations or services to customers?  Of course they should. One of the most fundamental aspects of business disruption planning concerns communications.  If there's no one to answer the phone how can anyone know what's going on.  The potential damage to a business is enormous in situations such as this and yet the solution is so simple and inexpensive.  Implementing a fall back phone system so that when the main phone is not answered it rolls over to a permanently manned contact centre who will answer the call just as you would normally is simply effective...