Map supplier dependencies before an earthquake interrupts sales

Map the service rather than the vendor list

A supplier inventory becomes useful when it shows how work actually reaches the customer. For a sales agency, appointment delivery may depend on email, identity access, calendars, conferencing, the CRM and available staff. A working calendar alone does not establish that the whole service can operate.

Ready Business's QuakeSmart toolkit organizes preparedness around organizational dependencies, including staff, systems and service. Use that planning perspective without treating the agency as qualified to assess physical infrastructure. Public earthquake instructions and any access restrictions remain matters for relevant authorities.

Look for shared points of failure

Two vendors may still depend on the same login provider, administrator or account-recovery mailbox. A fallback platform is not independent if nobody can authenticate to it when the primary system is unavailable. Record these relationships explicitly instead of assuming different brand names provide resilience.

Ask suppliers for their official support route, service-status channel and relevant continuity documentation. Avoid requesting guarantees they cannot provide. Distinguish a supplier's published availability from your own ability to use its service, and record contractual considerations for an appropriately qualified reviewer rather than inventing universal obligations.

Complete a dependency worksheet

The example below maps one business outcome. Repeat it for essential workflows, not every minor software feature. The fallback should describe a permitted operating method or a deliberate pause, rather than a purchase recommendation.

• Outcome: client appointments receive accurate confirmation and an available host.
• Dependencies: calendar, conferencing, CRM, identity service and account owner.
• Shared exposure: calendar and CRM access both use the same identity provider.
• Fallback: approved manual appointment register, only if authorized staff are available.
• Stop condition: no confirmed host or no reliable way to prevent duplicate bookings.

Test alternatives without creating new risk

Exercise a dependency failure in advance using a hypothetical account. Ask whether the deputy can locate support details, determine the affected workflow and communicate a pause. Do not disrupt live client work merely to prove a fallback exists.

After an earthquake, an available operator can use the map to prioritize inquiries and service notices. They should not bypass access controls, move customer data into unapproved tools or travel to retrieve equipment. Review the map after supplier changes and exercises. Ready.gov's continuity resources support maintaining and testing such arrangements; the worksheet is a suggested organizational tool, not an engineering assessment of supplier resilience.