Heat Waves to Hurricanes: How to Avoid Weather-Related Business Disruption

Hot weather, hurricanes and other inclement weather conditions can all pose significant business disruption, including causing power outages that may limit you and your employees’ ability to access data and get work done. The record-breaking heat wave that wreaked havoc on the Pacific Northwest this summer, for example, has sparked numerous power outages at various points across much of the region.

In fact, weather variability is estimated to cost the U.S. 3.5% of its gross domestic product each year, according to Harvard Business Review.

Businesses that want to protect against the weather-related disruption—and the resulting lost productivity and revenue—can take several steps. Here are three important ones:

1. Predict and prevent your biggest weather-related business risks

Every business is different, and how weather disruptions will affect yours will depend on your specific operations. After a major hurricane or tropical storm, some businesses may experience supply chain disruptions due to evacuations, travel restrictions and shipping delays. Others may see revenue plummet because they rely on customer foot traffic.

Look at your business from all angles, and forecast how a severe storm or other natural disaster could affect it. This allows you to prevent your key business risks instead of having to deal with them after the fact.

2. Keep data and software on the cloud

Onsite servers and/or software stored on devices will make your data and key applications much harder to access in the event that you can’t get to your physical location after a storm or natural disaster. Storing your data on the cloud, on the other hand, keeps it safer and more accessible from anywhere you have internet access.

3. Safeguard your business internet

You and your employees may rely on the internet through all or most of your day—whether to communicate internally or with customers and suppliers or to access your data. Data from IBISWorld shows that online business activity has been growing rapidly  and will continue to do so in coming years.

So if a power outage cuts off your electricity, you may lose your main business lifeline as well.

Consider how to maintain your internet access in the event of a power outage. For example, Spectrum Business Wireless Internet Backup can support up to four devices and provide up to eight hours of continuous connectivity if your business loses power. Coupled with Spectrum Business’s 99.9% network reliability, it activates automatically after an outage, providing the assurance that you won’t lose access.

Having a business mobile plan can also improve your access by providing mobile wireless access from wherever you are working.

Spectrum Business customers can add Wireless Internet Backup to their service for only $20 a month. To learn more, contact us at 855-299-9353.