Winter 2017: Disaster for your data?
With winter just around the corner, everyone around you may be getting “all wrapped up” in the upcoming holiday season…
But you’ve got a business to run, customers to keep happy and mission-critical data to keep safe, even if a major blizzard, lightning strike, windstorm or epic flood is taking place right outside your door.
Here are 5 easy steps you can take this holiday season to get your office prepared for this winter’s worst, without seeming like Mr. Grinch.
1. Be ready for power outages
A power outage can hurt your business in more ways than you think. Besides employee downtime, it takes time to safely get everything back up and running. Then you need to make sure no critical files have been damaged or lost.
Autosave features can help minimize lost files in a sudden power outage. An uninterruptible power supply (UPS) can give your team anywhere from ten minutes to an hour to back up files and properly shut down equipment. If you need longer power durability during an outage, you might want to look into a backup generator.
2. Keep lines of communication open
Customer frustration due to production delays and not being able to reach key people at your company can be very costly in terms of both revenues and your company’s reputation.
Here are three ways to make sure calls to your office don’t get bobbled when a storm rolls in:
- Create a new automated greeting to let callers know about changes in hours or closings.
- Set up an emergency override that automatically reroutes key phone lines to one or more numbers that can be reached during an outage.
- Make sure you and your staff can access voice mail remotely – from a smartphone, by e-mail as an attached sound file or transcribed message, or as a text notification.
3. Manage employees working from home
Many of your employees can work from home if need be. But you’ll need to prepare in advance if it’s not the norm at your company. Have your IT specialist check with employees who could work from home during rough weather. They’ll need a virtual private network (VPN) to safely access the company network. Be sure it’s set up well in advance to avoid any glitches when that winter storm hits and you need it most.
4. Have a disaster recovery plan (DRP) ready to go
Unless you can afford to shut down for days at a time, or even just a few hours, it’s absolutely critical to keep a written DRP on hand. Write out step-by-step details of who does what in every type of winter disruption – from simple power outages to blizzards, flooding or building damage caused by heavy winds or lightning. A downed network can cost your company big-time every minute it’s offline. Make sure your plan includes one or more ways to get it back up and running ASAP. Consider virtualizing key parts or all of your network so your team can access it remotely. Once you’ve written out your plan, keep one copy at your office, one at home and one with your IT specialist.
"Be sure it's set up well in advance to avoid any glitches when that winter storm hits."
Get help from a professional you can trust. Trying to recover your data after a sudden or serious outage without professional help is business suicide. One misstep can result in losing critical files forever, or weeks of downtime. Make sure you’re working with a pro who will not only help set up a recovery plan, but has experience in data recovery. The old adage about an ounce of prevention applies doubly when it comes to working with the right people who can help you prepare for – and recover from – whatever winter throws your way.
WANT HELP GETTING READY FOR WINTER?
CALL FOR A FREE WINTERIZATION CHECKUP.
Let us help you make sure your phone lines, Internet connections and internal network can take the tough weather. One of our experienced professionals will come in to examine your systems and review your disaster recovery plan with you to make sure nothing critical has been left out in the cold.
CONTACT US
(224) 519-2603 or
Contact us today – you never know when a sudden storm will blow in.
