Businesses with an eye on the future are always looking for new paths to growth as well as ways to reduce risk. Losing a major client to a competitor, overpriced or underpriced products, going into a venture underfunded, and not carefully studying the marketplace are all common reasons for a business to fail.

Yet another common cause for failure — one that is too often overlooked — is total destruction by, or loss from, fire, flood, theft or other disasters.

The Wyeth Pharmaceuticals Approach to Asset Protection

Wyeth Pharmaceuticals (NYSE: WYE), the drug giant that works to improve the lives of millions with its products, is constantly researching and discovering new therapies for medical conditions like diabetes, breast cancer, multiple sclerosis, HIV, Alzheimer’s, and schizophrenia. And Wyeth has the same disciplined approach to managing its disaster preparedness and disaster recovery programs.

Indeed, Wyeth has an obligation to the lives it aims to help, and to itself, to protect the documents that bear the results of many years’ worth of R&D.

Barbara Schauder, Purchase Supervisor for Wyeth in Sanford, North Carolina, explains how Wyeth’s vital records are stored.

“About one year ago all Wyeth offices were required to start using secure, UL®-rated fireproof filing cabinets for our sensitive documents. Both confidential internal papers, as well as some customer files, are secured in FireKing 4-drawer fireproof filing cabinets. We have seven in our office, but every Wyeth location nationwide is protected at all times with FireKing containers.”

Losing vital records, regardless of their nature, can – and often does – cause a business to fail.

The example put forth by Wyeth Pharmaceuticals’ vital records protection approach is simple: protect your business from failure by all means available. Whether you are storing 500 files or 5,000,000, the proactive purchase of this type of UL-rated vital-records protection will seem well worth its cost after a disaster occurs.

Businesses of every size should be as concerned as Wyeth is when it comes to disaster recovery. Losing vital records, regardless of their nature, can – and often does – cause a business to fail. But when the right steps are taken, like using a UL-rated fire-resistant container for storing all important records, your business has a better chance to survive and thrive in the face of a catastrophe.