NEW YORK -November12: The fire destroyed around 100 houses during Hurricane Sandy in the flooded neighborhood at Breezy Point in Far Rockaway area on October 29, 2012 in New York City; NY
Hurricanes, Floods, and Disaster Preparedness for Business Continuity
During the hurricane season, which ends November 30th, concerns heighten regarding disaster preparedness in for business technology operations. Predictions of where any given hurricane will make landfall are literally all over the map. But one thing is certain, every business needs to be prepared for the worst scenario including physical damage to facilities and data equipment, extended power outages, and flooding.
In order for your business to operate during these interruptions, Business Continuity planning is the key. Business Continuity plans are usually developed over time and with explicit planning, resulting in a resilient infrastructure providing true Business Continuity during disasters. Today, a lot of continuity concerns are addressed with cloud computing technologies delivering services, which are usually delivered through geo-dispersed redundant data centers. That means that even if a specific geography is impacted by a major catastrophe or outage, all your cloud based business operations can continue to function, which can solve a lot of continuity problems.
With impending storms heading our way with inevitable power disruptions or worse,
Here are a few tips and considerations to help your business be as prepared as possible:
1. Ensure your Business Continuity Services for Server and Data backup are operating properly, and your IT Department is prepared to recover your servers to the cloud if necessary, if they are not already running in the cloud. If you are using APM BCS (Business Continuity Service) you already receive regular reports detailing preparedness for recovery.
2. Make sure your mobile devices are fully charged and have a plan to charge them during extended outages, including cell phones and laptops. Portable battery packs that can charge your mobile phone are readily available at your local electronics store or at Amazon.com.
3. Download and install your Cloud Telecom and PBX providers mobile phone client, so you can make and receive business calls, just as you can while you are in the office. If you have APM’s CleerVoice solution implemented, download the Corenexa app and login with your credentials. If you are having any issues accessing your Corenexa client, call or email APM support for support (support@apmsystems.com or 215-295-1097 x1).
4. Ensure you have surge and battery protection installed on all of your electronics. If your surge protectors have an indicator light, make sure it shows that protection is active. If the light is not showing active protection, move it to another outlet and if it is still not lit, then replace it with a new surge suppressor. Be aware, all power strips are not created equal and some don’t even protect your equipment from electrical surges. If you need us to ship or install battery or surge equipment for you, please contact support@apmsystems.com or 215-295-1097 x1.
5. Make sure you have your Cloud desktop, Citrix client software or other cloud access software, including web browsers, installed and up to date. Test mobile remote access to your cloud desktop and applications before the storm, so you have ensure you have access when you need it.
6. Make sure your operating systems are up to date and patched. Make sure your firewalls, antivirus and antimalware software are all up to date. While this recommendation is not directly related to an outage, often times people are using different access methods during outages from different devices that may not be well maintained and are out of date. Make sure all of your devices have the latest operating software and patches installed before you use them for business purposes and only use devices approved by your business managers. Always make sure you have current antivirus and antimalware software installed and running properly.
If you have any additional questions about your Business Continuity, for natural or unnatural disasters – from Hurricanes to Viruses to Cryptoware – don’t hesitate to contact our helpdesk to ensure your plans and preparations are up to date; so you are ready to operate as productively as possible during regular facility service interruptions.
Your Technology Support Team
APM IT Group
Service & Support phone: 215-295-1097, option 1
Service & Support email: support@apmsystems.com
Technology & Security Solutions you can count on. Cloud, Hybrid, Premise - Data, Voice, Video
Providing Systems Management, Consulting, Design, Administration, Support & Helpdesk Services for over 16 years.