Most businesses have their own networks. Very few businesses have to rely on digital services to provide them with such services that would create an online network for them. Chief among them are home businesses who obviously don’t have their own servers, they don’t have their own LAN and they don’t have their own hard drives to name a few things.
However those that do, will sometimes be hit with a downtime event. This means that the network is simply not functioning correctly or is actually physically down. An unexpected outage can mean massive loss of earnings, employee productivity levels decreasing, unhappy clients and customers who lose confidence in your business. Not every business can be equipped with a network back up, as this is an entirely separate structure that is not in use most of the time yet will cost to maintain. But there are a few things you can do to carry on working even when you have network downtime.
Powering up Your Office
Sometimes networks can go down because of a power failure. Your network may be completely fine yet, the power grid might cause your systems to shut down suddenly. It’s a good idea to keep an emergency office power supply with you. These small portable devices can store enough power to allow one desk to continue operating. If you buy enough of these you can get certain key desks to continue working as well as powering your network. This will allow managers and C-suite rank employees to maintain contact with customers, clients and investors while you find out what the cause of the power outage is. However just makes sure that nobody has tripped over a power cord or something simple like that. Even the simplest of solutions can resolve what appears to be widespread issues.
Your Own Access
Small businesses that have entered into a commercial office building doesn’t have to take what’s already in their office. You can use their ethernet cables and internet routers if you wish. This is usually a cost-saving choice as commercial buildings will almost always have low-grade hardware and internet. It’s up to you the business to look after you own internet access needs. If the building’s routers go out, you won’t lose internet connection if you have your own routers and cables. It’s wise to buy fiber optic cables as the price has dropped in recent years, and using them in your routers. Not only do you bypass any problems the building or floor might be having but your speed is far above average too.
Off-Site Servers
Commercial office buildings will always have their own servers as they provide the businesses that rent offices with an additional feature. Again, this does mean your servers will go down when there is a power failure or issue with the building’s infrastructure. So using IT Consulting services that offer off-site servers on a cloud system, is far safer. There could be a storm brewing outside which surges the power unit in the building. Although there may not be any lasting damage, for a certain amount of time your network will be down. So using a cloud server system will allow you to continue logging and storing data. No decrease in employee productivity and no data loss either. Your servers will be housed in a colocation center which have their own protections as well. They will also have their own security protections, as well as having on-site security.
Candles and Pens
When time is of the essence you must be ready to continue working to complete the tasks that still remain unfinished. If you have to, use LED lamps as your candles and use notebooks and pens to do what you can. Tablets and laptops with relevant files and folders saved onto them beforehand will come in handy. This does mean you should have a policy for making weekly saves of tasks and work onto such devices just in case of network outages. Network downtime might be a few minutes or it could be for multiple hours; you just don’t know. It’s better to keep working in some capacity than to simply wait it out.
Small businesses must buy and use their own internet rather than relying on commercial offices. Using your own ethernet and fiber optic cables, you can continue working via a cloud server system. With a cloud server you save money on security as well as physical real world maintenance. Buy one or two portable emergency office power supplies so you have at least a few desks that are still operating through the downtime.
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