Although recent weather patterns might make some people think otherwise, summer is here. That means more than just good weather and summer vacations, however: It also means it is time for hurricane season in parts of the country prone to such weather.
Despite the annual occurrence, with an average of more than five hurricanes hitting the U.S. each year, some businesses still don’t have a plan for natural disasters.
This lack of planning, however, is the equivalent to not having healthcare or backing up key computer systems. In good times, the lack of planning goes unnoticed. But when things go wrong, they really go wrong.
A recent blog post by hosted phone provider BroadConnect outlines the steps businesses need to take if they’re to be smart about disaster preparation.
First, it is important to conceptualize a proper plan.
“Before you begin implementing technology and executing best practices, you must first visualize business outcomes you still need to guarantee in case of even a single bout of downtime,” noted the blog post. “For example, do you need to continuously route calls and keep communications smoothly flowing? Or do you need social media access to communicate with customers should they not be able to reach you? Think about your business continuity plan from every angle, and then determine what kind of technology is required to achieve and maintain those goals.”
Second, identify vulnerable areas. A homeowner might pay attention to trees that could crash into windows, for instance, and businesses need to identify essential infrastructure that is vulnerable.
For most businesses, business phone access is one example of a vulnerable area. In a storm, phone lines can go down and customers and partners can lose access to the business—hurting both production and sales.
A possible solution for the problem might include moving to a hosted phone provider, since hosted phone systems are not reliance on phone lines that couple be downed; a hosted system can pivot from an office connection to cellular to other offices in times of crisis.
Which brings up a third necessary preparation step: Making sure quality infrastructure is in place that can weather natural disasters. This includes making sure the infrastructure is not needlessly complex, because that can add more points of failure in a time of crisis. It also means having expert support in case infrastructure goes down and needs repair.
Planning for hurricanes after the fact doesn’t work, so now’s the time to prepare for any business that still doesn’t have a natural disaster plan in place. Hurricanes do happen, as plenty of sorry businesses in Louisiana and elsewhere can attest.
Edited by Alisen Downey