So why are so few businesses prepared to continue business when disaster strikes?

A survey shows a lack of vision regarding disaster planning. Four of every10 businesses do not have a disaster plan in place, and 25% of businesses define their attitude toward continuity planning as "live and let live" -- meaning they will deal with the problem when it arises. The author of "Prepare for the Worst, Plan for the Best," , wrote that more than 70% of businesses experiencing a disaster fail to survive long-term. Given that Childs lived and worked in the shadow of the World Trade Center during the 9/11 attacks, her credibility on this topic should be sobering to company executive teams and CFOs.

There are many parts to a good continuity plan. (For one description of sensible measures for small business, read .) But businesses first must focus on securing and backing up key data.

In that area, fortunately, the cost is rapidly decreasing as technology increases. Many businesses are using cloud computing solutions to increase workplace flexibility, although these tools are even more valuable as continuity planning tools.

I use a laptop and a desktop computer, and I store my business information on . For $99/year, I have 50GB of storage space that serves as an automatic backup service. Five-person teams can start with Dropbox for as little as $795/year. Competing services such as and are also available for companies to use data from any computer.