Winter Disaster For Your Data?
Posted by Jake Cohen

winter

With winter here, the possible threat of a major blizzard or winter disaster could occur and business still needs to run as usual.

Customers need to be kept happy and it is critical to keep data safe.

Here are 5 easy steps you can take this winter season to get your office prepared for this winter’s worst.

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. Auto save features can help minimize lost files in a sudden power outage.

 

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. You’ll need to prepare in advance if it’s not the norm at your company. Have your IT specialist review 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 ready to go. Unless you can afford to be down for days at a time, or even just a few hours, it’s absolutely critical to keep a written disaster recovery plan on hand. Write out a list of 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 visualizing 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.

5. 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 215-723-3495 today or fill out the form to the right to request a Data Recovery Assessment. 

Visit NCIbackup.com for more detailed solutions. 

 

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