In Puerto Rico, nobody needs an explanation of what losing power means. What is worth reviewing is what happens to your business when it does: who can keep working, from where, and with what information.
A continuity plan does not have to be a hundred-page document. For most small and mid-sized businesses, it comes down to answering five questions well before the emergency arrives.
1. What cannot stop?
Not everything is equally urgent. Make a short list of what your business needs to bill, serve clients and run payroll. It is usually three or four things: the billing system, email, phones and working files. Everything else can wait a few days.
That list defines your priorities. If you only have the budget to protect one thing, make it the first item on the list.
2. Where does your information live?
If your files and your main system are on a server inside the office, your business depends on that building having power, internet and being accessible. If they are in the cloud, your team can work from anywhere with a connection.
Moving the essentials to the cloud does not eliminate the risk, but it changes it: you no longer depend on a single location. For many businesses, it is the step that most reduces the impact of a hurricane.
3. How long can your equipment last without power?
- A battery backup (UPS) on the server, the network equipment and key workstations gives you minutes to save work and shut down in order. Its purpose is not to keep working, but to prevent damage and data loss.
- A generator or a larger battery system does let you operate, but it must be tested under real load before the season, not on the day you need it.
- Abrupt shutdowns and voltage fluctuations damage equipment. A quality surge protector costs far less than replacing a server.
4. How does your team communicate if the office has no internet?
Decide on an alternate channel in advance: a messaging group, a printed phone list, a meeting point. Have a second internet connection from a different provider, or at least a cellular data plan you can share with essential devices.
If your phones are voice over IP, verify that calls can be redirected to mobile phones when the office loses service.
5. Have you tested recovering anything?
A backup that has never been restored is an assumption. At least twice a year, ask for a file, a mailbox or an entire system to be recovered, and measure how long it takes. That number is the real time your business would be down.
Before a storm is announced
- Confirm that last week's backups completed.
- Update the contact list for employees, vendors and key clients.
- Raise equipment that sits on the floor and unplug what is not essential.
- Make sure more than one person has access to critical accounts.
- Agree on who makes decisions if you are not available.
None of this is complicated. The hard part is doing it in June and not in September, when the storm already has a name.
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