Summer means hot weather in Georgia and along with the heat, it brings its friend humidity. Put the two together and you have a formula that brings along some powerful weather one of which is lightning and the other is the loss of power. So, How do you prepare yourself for when the lights go out in Georgia? Here are a few tips.
- Have a survivability strategy when it happens. When business managers forget to take into consideration the complete outages of either network, business telephone systems or business security system (security systems usually contains its own backup power source) for extended periods of time, the result is complete collapse. Rottweiler provides a hosted platform for such occasions. All you need to do is forward that main number to one of our DID numbers, record the greeting and gives us email addresses and you are up and running in minutes. We can also deploy IP phones immediately for those occasions when you know you will not be up in a few days.
- Install and connect the largest uninterrupted power supply for the telecommunications equipment. Most dial tone providers only provide the minimum rather than the maximum in backup power. If that is not bad enough then often others follow behind and plug in an assorted electronic hardware that draws from the available energy in the small UPS causing it to provide only 15 to 20 minutes of battery backup. Solution: make sure that the ups is large enough to carry the systems you are demanding it to carry for at least an hour.
- Lightning protection! Put it on anything that might receive a surge from the power company. Usually the units cost an additional 10% of the overall cost of the electronic hardware. But if you have it installed when the hardware goes in, it could save your equipment.
- Ask to see if your hardware provider offers a lightning rider in their maintenance or warranty provisions. Most do not and often the costs exceed the replacement costs of the hardware they protect.
- Just as important, check to see if you already pay an insurance premium for the electronic equipment in your office. Severe storms that produce lightning happens frequently during this time of year and if you have not talked with your insurance agent or the policy provider lately, take 10 minutes to insure they are still in business! Many were sold during the year of 2009 and discovery of their survivability takes only a few phone calls.
Hopefully your lights don't go out in Georgia this year, but if they do and you take the necessary steps now, your business should survive the crisis discussed in this article.
