How to Mitigate Business Downtime During a Hurricane

Did you know that the average Atlantic hurricane season has seven hurricanes, three of which are considered major hurricanes? If you operate a business in or near a hurricane-prone area, you’ve likely experienced the various effects that severe weather can have on your company. One of the most significant impacts is downtime.

Most businesses struggle to withstand sustained downtime, whether from property loss due to torrential rain or communication issues that cut off customers. Fortunately, companies can implement different business downtime minimization​ measures when hurricanes are expected. Learn about downtime risk mitigation for severe weather​ in our quick guide.

Examples of Business Operations Downtime Due to Weather

Depending on the hurricane’s severity, companies may experience a few different impacts on overall business continuity, such as:

• Employee health and safety: A hurricane can affect people’s health, which can impact business operations when employees are unable to return to work for a time. If the hurricane hits during work hours, companies should have plans in place to prioritize the staff’s well-being.
• Property damage: Between high winds and water surges, hurricanes can cause considerable property damage. This damage can halt business operations as the company makes the necessary repairs and replacements.
• Supply chain disruptions: The storm may impact a business’s local supply chain partners. If they cannot resume operations following the hurricane, companies will need a plan to keep things moving as smoothly as possible.
• Data loss: A hurricane could damage or destroy computer systems and data storage devices. If data isn’t backed up properly, businesses may lose access to valuable information, such as customer, financial and operational data, setting operations back.
• Communication barriers: When phone and internet lines go down due to severe weather, it can be nearly impossible to communicate with staff, customers and suppliers. These roadblocks can lead to extensive downtime as companies try to contact their networks.

5 Ways to Reduce the Impact of Hurricanes on Your Business

While hurricanes can impact your operations in several ways, you can take preventive steps to reduce business downtime due to hurricanes. Keep in mind that a hurricane preparedness plan isn’t a one-time endeavor — you’ll need to test and update it consistently to ensure it’s effective. Some crucial aspects of your plan include the following:

1. Plan for Emergency Power

Every company, especially those in critical services industries such as government, information technology and health care, should have redundant systems and infrastructure to support operational continuity during outages. For example, backup power generators, emergency fuel services and external data storage can be the difference between costly downtime and smooth uptime.

Look for systems and partners that can support you through critical situations with guarantees and experience you can trust. If primary power supplies go down, you’ll have peace of mind that your business can continue running with minimal interruption.

2. Move Operations to the Cloud

The right tools, software and resources can enable remote work and data protection during severe weather. If a hurricane keeps employees out of the office, enabling operations in the cloud can allow them to continue working safely from their homes, helping your business overcome downtime. With all your essential data backed up in the cloud, you can avoid critical data loss and support your remote teams even as your physical business location is under threat.

3. Communicate With Supply Chain Partners

One of the most effective steps you can take during severe weather is maintaining communication with your supply chain partners. If your network is uninformed about your business’s status, you might spend money on shipments you’re unprepared to receive. At the same time, your suppliers may also experience the hurricane’s effects, causing disruptions that result in downtime.

Keep lines of communication open before, during and after severe weather hits. A cloud-based communication system, such as voice over internet protocol, can help you and other team members update important stakeholders even when the main communication lines go down. Having backup supply chain partners as part of your business continuity plan is crucial to mitigating downtime.

4. Implement Data Backup and Recovery

When businesses use on-premises data storage exclusively, they risk total data loss during severe weather like hurricanes. Even seemingly minimal water damage from flooding can damage servers beyond repair. Investing in data backup and recovery solutions should be a top priority for any company that currently only stores data locally.

Before hurricane season, transition duplicates of your critical data to off-site storage. It can also be beneficial to incorporate a cloud-based solution into your approach. This way, you’ll have multiple methods of storing and securing your data, making the recovery process more seamless post-storm.

Prioritize thorough cybersecurity measures to protect your data. As employees temporarily work from home, create a plan that ensures only specific workers can access specific information. Locking data behind safeguards like multifactor authentication can be highly beneficial.

5. Secure Physical Assets

Since hurricanes cause the most destruction of all recorded weather disasters in the United States, securing your business’s physical assets should be a top priority. While it may not be possible to avoid all damage from winds, rain and surges, you can take a preventive approach to minimize some of it.

Consider installing hurricane shutters and elevating critical equipment. Additionally, you can work with your team to develop procedures for moving valuable assets to safer locations, such as an off-site warehouse out of the hurricane’s path.

Foster Fuels’ Mission Critical Services

Any company that relies on fuel to sustain its operations should have a dependable emergency supplier in the face of severe weather. Foster Fuels is your trusted partner for emergency fuel delivery services. Since our start in 1921, we’ve grown to offer fuel services on a national and international scale, having assisted in numerous emergency responses in Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Haiti and beyond.

As part of our Mission Critical division, we assist with critical fuel needs to support your business continuity plan. Through a Foster Fuels Emergency Service Guaranteed Response Contract, your company can receive emergency fuel delivery with a 100% uptime guarantee to maintain your business operations. Keep your power supplies operating in the aftermath of a hurricane so you can support your company’s most critical functions.

Contact Us Today

No matter the emergency you’re facing, whether a hurricane, winter storm or power grid failure, Foster Fuels is ready to help. Learn more about our emergency fuel options to see how we can play a vital role in downtime risk mitigation. Contact our Mission Critical team today.