With hurricane season fast approaching, now is the perfect time to ensure your business is prepared—not just with sandbags and flashlights, but with a solid technology plan that keeps your operations safe and resilient.
Here we share a few technology-focused tips to help protect your data, equipment, and business continuity:
🔹 Have a Technology Emergency Plan
Create an emergency preparedness plan specifically for your tech assets. Once approved, share the plan with your employees, review it often, and update it as needed to reflect changes in your systems or personnel.
🔹 Back Up Your Data Frequently
Your data is your business. We recommend backing it up at least once a week—but more often is better. We back up our customers’ data multiple times per day to help protect against loss.
🔹 Store Multiple Backup Copies
Keep copies of your company data both locally (on-site) and off-site (cloud or physical backup in a different location). This adds a layer of protection in case your office is affected by flooding or power issues.
🔹 Test Your Backups
It’s not enough to back up—you must also verify and validate that your backups are actually working. Regularly check that your files are accessible and up to date.
🔹 Understand Your Power Protection
Not all power devices are equal. It's important to know the difference:
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Power strips: Basic, no surge protection. Not recommended.
Surge protectors: Help prevent damage during spikes. Recommended.UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply): Provides backup power during outages, helping avoid unexpected shutdowns. Highly recommended.
🔹 Protect Your Hardware
If you’re in a hurricane or flood-prone area and time permits:
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Unplug electronics to avoid power surges.
Place devices on elevagted surfaces to reduce floor risk.
Place smaller devices such as point-of-sale systems into water-tight containers to reduce the risk of water damage.
🔹 Take What You Can
If evacuating, bring your portable tech (like laptops and external hard drives) with you. This small step that could save you major headaches later.
By preparing now, you can help protect your business from downtime, data loss, and stress when a storm hits. If you need help putting a technology emergency plan in place, we'd be happy to help.
