Business continuity is just what it sounds like — your business’ ability to continue functioning, even if there is an outage event.
Outages happen. Power goes out sometimes. Internet goes down. Both of those services are essential to business operations — especially if your phones need power and/or internet.
You CAN be prepared for these events.
Power Outages
For power outage events, we recommend that all essential equipment (servers, workstations, VoIP phones, network equipment) be plugged into Universal Power Supply (UPS) units. The have a battery attached that is always charged and ready to kick into action if the power drops. For brief power outages, these units are more than capable of keeping business going.
For long term outages, a generator or other device would be needed. If your business is frequently in the path of a hurricanes or other weather situations, a generator could be a good investment.
Internet Outages
So many critical applications and processes rely on a continuous internet connection. When the internet goes down, functionality disappears as well. There are many solutions now for Cellular Failover — a variety of devices that can sense the disruption of internet service, and immediately initiate a cellular connection to keep essential processes functioning. This becomes critical in business environments that use VoIP — or Voice over Internet Protocol. In a recent internet upgrade for one of our clients, we saw seamless business operations: VoIP phone calls received and answered, practice management software accessed as needed, and other internet resources still accessible, even while their primary modem was decommissioned and a new one installed. With the Cellular Failover in place, when the device noticed the lack of internet coming from the modem, it engaged the cellular network to provide internet for the essential business functions.
Voice Continuity
With the rising popularity of VoIP communication systems, having a business continuity strategy in place is becoming more important. We have partnered with a leader in the VoIP industry who uses an industry-leading voice continuity program that monitors your internet connection. Within moments of losing an internet connection or power outage, calls will automatically fail over to an alternate call route to a predetermined destination, such as a mobile phone or a voicemail. E-mail alerts are sent when the Voice Continuity policy is triggered and again when normal service has been restored.
The Bottom Line
With strategic products and solutions, true business continuity is possible. Give us a call to discuss the different options.