My family is busy planning their vacation to Mexico at the end of the month. We are creating a roadmap and schedule of all the items to do in the area and prioritizing. Planning what to do each day, but making sure to leave room for those “just in case emergencies”. What are those emergencies that could pop up?
- What if there is a “must see” attraction or item that everyone at the resort is raving about? We don’t want to miss out on it.
- What if the weather plays a factor (praying for sun as I write this) and we have to postpone or reschedule an event due to rain?
- What if something comes up at the office that could really use my attention for an hour or two? ( YES…I know they call it a vacation for a reason. But it is hard not to stay connected and on top of things to make it easier when you get back to work the following Monday)
All this planning reminds me of the businesses we work with. Do they have a continuity plan in place for their telecommunications? Are they prepared to embrace some of the leading technologies to assist in growing their business by saving them time, money, or efficiencies? Do they have a plan in place in the event of a catastrophe (a power outage, a virus attack on their server or PC, a carrier outage on their Internet and/or phone connection)? Are they able to stay connected from anywhere and at anytime if they so choose? How safe and secure is their data stored?
There was an article recently by Nationwide where they tallied small and medium-sized businesses of less than 300 employees. The results were that 75% of the businesses do not have a disaster recovery plan in place. And, surprisingly 52% of those businesses admit that it could take three months to fully recover from a disaster. link to article
Would your business be able to survive if it took you that long to recover and be fully operational again?
Our friends over at Dijital Majik computers stress the importance of backing up your data. They use a “Grandfather, father, son” analogy that you should have three completely different ways you are backing up your data on a regular basis. The more back-ups you have, the easier and quicker it would be to restore your business to where it was in the event of an emergency.
How quickly can you re-establish your phone service if you had to up and move your business at a moments notice? Our January blog talks about a call forward unreachable feature, which is just one of the ways you can keep those phones ringing if needed.
If your internet goes down, how long can you still be productive before you have to find a coffee shop with WIFI to work from? Imagine if you are a retail establishment who has a point of sale system that is reliant on staying connected to the Internet? Are you able to manually take sales or look-up parts until service is restored? Many businesses are become so reliant on staying connected that they are looking for a back-up/disaster recovery Internet for their continuity plan.
There are many options available to businesses to achieve the best disaster recovery plan for their phone and internet services. Every business is different and we work with their technology departments and vendors to find the best solution to fit their needs. Some options that businesses would want to consider could include dual internet services, having a battery back up to keep devices operational in a power failure, and power surge protection for your equipment.
At InteleCONNECT, we assist clients everyday who are wanting to make sure that they have the right road maps in place for those “just in case emergencies”. You can tempt fate with your business and you may be fine. Just like I could pack only one swimsuit for Mexico and risk having to put on a cold wet suit on day two. But, it would be a lot easier to have a back-up ready to go so I can get back out and enjoy being productive!
