As winter storms prevail, thunderstorms roll in, or hurricanes hit the shore, business owners can’t help but worry about the detriments of resulting power outages. Power outages disable small businesses from running smoothly. When employees are stranded at home without power or networks need to be turned off, businesses lose money and customers.
Even worse, it can cost thousands to cope with the loss of critical business files. In fact, a recent study by IDC found that unplanned downtime from these types of disruptions can cost a small business anywhere from $82,200 to $256,000.
The good news is, there are ways to prepare for disasters like these, and your business doesn’t have to suffer.
Here are five tech tips to help you keep your business running smoothly during a power outage:
1. Get a cloud backup and recovery solution.
utomatic cloud backup and recovery solutions like Carbonite will help you protect all of your important documents in the case of a power outage. How? We keep a secure, up-to-date copy of your files in the cloud, so you can get them back at any time – even if your computer dies.
2. Have a backup battery for your computer.
A power outage can happen in a flash and last for days. Having a backup battery for your computer will help you keep business operations running, even without electricity. For many businesses, keeping your computers running during an outage means you can also keep your business running.
Can a power outage damage a PC? Power outages can put extra wear and tear on a computer, shortening its life and making it less reliable. Additionally, unpredictable outages can cause surges that lead to loss of files and data. Luckily, there are ways to protect yourself and your electronics.
3. Get a MiFi. MiFis are portable routers that help you connect to WiFi no matter where you are.
When your home or office Internet goes out, using a MiFi device, or setting up a mobile hotspot, will allow you to stay connected to the Internet by way of your wireless cellular network. This will save you from braving the weather to get to the nearest coffee shop for Internet access – if they even have power.
4. Use surge protectors.
If your computer is plugged in during a storm, a surge, or sudden change in electrical voltage, can wreak havoc on your computer. Sometimes these quick flashes corrupt the data on your hard drive making it impossible to retrieve what you were working on just minutes prior. A surge protector will protect your hardware and, when combined with cloud backup, will provide complete protection for your files.
5. Factor power outages into your business continuity plan.
Have you thought about what you’ll do if the power goes out during the next natural disaster? Take a few minutes to write a step-by-step plan for dealing with power outages, including which practices and technologies you’ll implement. And even more importantly, be sure to test your plan ahead of time to ensure everything is working properly.
Conclusion. Even though the next natural disaster or weather event can be unpredictable, there are ways to protect yourself and your business. Knowing you need a plan is the first step. Of course, you also need to enact one as well. One of the most popular ways businesses protect themselves is with Disaster Recovery as a service (DRaaS). DRaaS provides a remotely hosted disaster recovery service to protect a business's data and applications.
Interested in automatic cloud backup solutions? Let’s get started.
Learn more about Carbonite Disaster Recovery as a service (DRaaS)
