So this issue of PrintWeek shares some salutary lessons on the importance of taking steps now to prevent disaster later.

In the front of the book, our Briefing looks at the devastating impact of this winter’s floods, sharing some valuable insights in how to best protect your business if the worst were to happen.

And then in our Knowledge bank section there’s our cover feature on the benefits of undertaking regular health checks on your business, to ensure your operation is in fine fettle.

While there are plenty of practical steps you can take to help protect your business from natural disasters, at the end of the day, all you can do is minimize the risk or put plans in place to mitigate the impact after the fact. Because, as recent events have proven, unless you possess Moses-like powers to hold back the floodwaters around your factory there’s not a lot more you can do.

But when it comes to the running of a business, more often than not, your fate, for better or worse, is in your own hands. And with the end of the financial year looming and 2016/17 budgets getting close to sign-off, now is probably the perfect time to take a step back and take a long, hard and, if possible, dispassionate, look at your business – its strengths and its weaknesses.

As the feature eloquently points out, the key to rectifying areas of concern and, just as importantly, seizing new opportunities, is identifying them as soon as possible – before the former damages the business or the window on the latter slams shut.

Because the gift of hindsight offers little by the way of consolation in either situation.