What Happens If Your Website Person Disappears?

If the person who normally looks after your website became unavailable next week, would anyone else know how to keep things moving? Having access to the passwords is only part of the answer. Important website tasks, decisions, workarounds, supplier relationships and day-to-day knowledge often sit with one person and may never have been properly handed over. That person might be a staff member, freelancer, agency, volunteer, committee member or business owner. If they leave, change roles, take extended leave or suddenly become unavailable, the organisation can quickly discover how much knowledge depended on them. In this practical, non-technical session, Wil Brown from Zero Point Development will show small businesses and growing organisations how to create a workable website handover and cover plan. You’ll learn how to: identify the recurring tasks and responsibilities your website depends on spot areas where important knowledge sits with only one person decide who can provide backup cover when that person is unavailable document tasks, dependencies, workarounds and unfinished work in a useful way establish clear escalation contacts when the backup person cannot resolve an issue prepare for both planned departures and unexpected absences test whether another person could actually take over when needed We’ll also work through a simple “someone else takes over” exercise to expose gaps that are easy to miss. For example, if a customer reports a payment, booking or website problem while your usual website person is unavailable, would the replacement know who is responsible, where to find the information they need, what they are authorised to do and when to escalate the issue? The goal is not to create a huge technical manual. It is to make sure your organisation is not dependent on knowledge that exists only in one person’s head. You’ll leave with a practical Website Handover & Cover Plan you can use to map responsibilities, assign backup cover, document critical tasks and test whether your continuity arrangements actually work. If you attended *Is Your Website Quietly Becoming a Business Risk?*, this session builds on those checks by showing you how to put a practical handover and cover plan in place. You can also attend this session on its own. No technical knowledge is required. Webinar for the NSW Small Business Month 2026.