Businesses can plan for an emergency 'with ease'

It is "much easier" for businesses to prepare for emergencies nowadays, according to the Association of British Insurers (ABI).

Kelly Ostler-Coyle, a spokesperson for the association, says new technology has made contingency planning much more straightforward for business owners.

"With things being online - being able to back things up on disc and keep them elsewhere, having laptops for people to work from home, mobile phones, BlackBerries - it's a lot easier now to communicate with people from outside of the workplace than it has been in the past," she explains.

Ms Ostler-Coyle advises business owners to keep important data backed-up at a different site, so information can be retrieved in the event of an emergency, such as flooding or fire damage.

According to a recent study by AXA insurance, around seven out of ten businesses would have difficulty surviving a major emergency.