Does Your Flower Shop Need a Disaster Recovery Plan?

It's 8am on 13 February. The shop computer won't start and tomorrow's delivery list is on it. Can the team find every order, card message and address from somewhere else?

A disaster plan is the written answer to that question. It covers the ordinary failures that can ruin a florist's day: a dead computer, lost internet, a power cut, a break-in, a flood or the one person with all the passwords calling in sick.

The Day's Orders Come First

List the information the shop needs to keep trading:

• today's delivery and collection orders
• recipient addresses, phone numbers and card messages
• payment status
• worksheets and product recipes
• delivery runs and driver contact details
• customer contact details

Then write down where each item lives. "On Sarah's computer" isn't enough. Name the system, the person who can open it and the fallback if that system is unavailable.

If you're reviewing where those details live, the Digital Florists Orders product shows how customer, delivery, payment and worksheet details stay with the order.

Gemma Wakerley owns Booker Flowers in Liverpool. Before the shop moved its day-to-day work into Digital Florists, one person could be tied to the computer at peak while orders were copied into a spreadsheet for delivery runs and make-up. Her Booker Flowers case study is a useful warning: if the day depends on one screen or one person, that's the first risk to plan around.

More Than One Copy

The common 3-2-1 backup rule is a useful check: keep three copies, on two different types of storage, with one copy away from the shop. The right setup depends on where your records live, but one fire or failed drive should not be able to take every copy with it.

Backups only count if you can restore them. Pick a quiet morning twice a year and recover a sample file. Check that it opens and contains recent data. A green tick beside "backup complete" is reassuring, but an opened file is proof.

If an order system keeps the records away from the shop computer, a dead laptop doesn't have to mean lost orders. Ask the provider how often it keeps copies, how you can export your records and what you can use if the service is unavailable. With Digital Florists, shop data is backed up daily and every order can also be emailed to the shop as it lands.

Backups are one part of choosing an order system. Our florist software buying guide covers exports, support and the other questions worth asking before you move the day's orders.

What Stops When the Internet Goes Down?

Turn off the shop Wi-Fi for ten minutes and see what stops. Can the till take a payment? Can staff find phone orders? Can a driver see the run already sent to their phone?

A mobile connection may cover a short broadband outage. Write down who has a suitable phone, where the charging leads are kept and how staff connect the shop computer. Don't wait for Valentine's morning to discover nobody knows the password.

A small battery unit can give a computer or router time to shut down safely during a power cut. It isn't a plan for trading all day without electricity. Your written fallback still needs to cover payments, phones, refrigeration and safe access to the building.

The One-Person Risk

Every important system needs two people who can get in and use the basics. That includes:

• the orders dashboard
• the till and payment account
• shop email and phone accounts
• website orders
• delivery planning
• the secure place where recovery details are held

Use individual logins where the system offers them. Store recovery details securely, not on a note taped under the keyboard. When someone leaves, remove their access on the same day.

Your One-Page Recovery Sheet

A long policy folder will stay on the shelf. Put the first actions on one page:

1. Who decides that the fallback plan starts?
2. Where can staff find today's orders?
3. How will the shop take new orders and payments?
4. How will drivers receive changes?
5. Who contacts the software, internet or payment provider?
6. How will customers be told about a serious delay?

Keep a printed copy somewhere known to the team and a second copy away from the shop. Review the names and phone numbers before each peak.

One Problem at a Time

Don't stage a grand emergency exercise. Test one failure during a quiet week. Work for 20 minutes without the main computer. Restore a customer export. Ask another staff member to find the Valentine's order list. Follow the printed instructions without filling in the gaps from memory.

Every hesitation is something to fix. Add the missing step, train the second person or move the only copy. Then test a different problem next month.

A disaster plan can't prevent a flood or power cut. It can stop that event from taking the day's orders with it.

Want to see how orders stay available away from one shop computer? Book a demo.