Stormy weather means it’s time to prepare for the possibility of an electrical outage. Inside Energy reports that in 2014, the five-year annual of outages doubled every five years from 2000 to 2014. With power outages on the rise, they are of significant concern for businesses.
Effects of Power Outages on Devices Fluctuations of electrical power can have a large impact to your devices. If your devices are left unprotected, a power outage can cause them permanent damage. A sudden loss of power can interrupt important updates; these interruptions will mess with your operating system, leaving your device in an inoperable state. This can cause your device to suffer catastrophic damage and can range anywhere from data corruption to a total malfunction.
So, what can you do to protect your devices from these negative effects?
Data Backups A power surge can render your hard drive useless. With a proper backup in place your organization can protect yourself against data loss. According to a survey by CA Technologies, small enterprises lost, on average, more than $55,000 in revenue each year due to IT failures, while midsize-large companies lost more than $1,000,000!
Having your IT Department design a disaster recovery plan for your data is a crucial step in protecting your information.
Battery Backups Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) batteries provide surge protection and emergency power to your devices for a short time. Having a UPS assists in not only protecting your device from unwanted shutdowns, but also regulates the voltage transferring to your device. While most UPS only provide power for a short period of time it gives the user enough time to issue a proper shutdown. A graceful shutdown can prevent the possibility of data loss or hardware malfunction. Read more about the benefits of battery backups in our previous article, “Stormy Weather Ahead! Protect Your Devices!”
Insurance Businesses should make sure that insurance policies include coverage associated with IT equipment. It is important for your business to review your organizations property and casualty insurance policies. In case a devastating electrical crisis occurs, having proper insurance along with documentation can help your business to recover much faster and more efficiently.
For more information on protecting your business against power outages, contact Kitsap Networking Services and Sequim I.T. Our consultants can assist you in creating a comprehensive plan to protect your devices.