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By Lance Podell
While the freak snow storm in Buffalo doesn’t come close to the tragic disasters our nation has faced in the last decade, it’s clear that we have all become more compassionate and understanding of each other.
Buy a Generator, or Two: It was clear the storm had caused severe damage and it would be quite some time before our power was restored. We needed to buy a generator, but with local stores closed, we were forced to travel to the next largest city. With two generators, we were able to restore some level of “normalcy” in the office. We could charge our cell phones and listen to the radio. Trust me, the benefits outweigh the cost in an infinite number of ways.
Bring Back-up: After the August 2003 blackout in New York City I always carry extra batteries for my cell phone and Blackberry. It may seem like overkill but in the storm it proved invaluable.
Think Holistically: It’s natural to think of your employees’ well being in the event of an emergency, but what about the peoples’ lives that your employees touch? The storm kept children home and forced the elderly out of assisted living facilities.
When power was restored at the office on Sunday night, most of our employees’ homes were still without power. We opened our doors and welcomed, employees’ families to warm up and recharge. Supermarkets and restaurants were closed. We arranged for food to be delivered from another town and for childcare in the office. Power outages were still widespread and many people were still home in the dark. The biggest lesson I learned here is that it takes very little to do a lot for your employees.
You Can’t be in Two Places at Once: If your business has multiple offices, you should always make sure to have someone at each office who can act as your voice. When the storm hit in Buffalo, it was important that I had a colleague in our other two offices to communicate internally and externally on my behalf.
Be Careful where you Store Your Data: In today’s business environment, most if not all of our business heavily relies on technology. For Seevast, a company that operates marketing services companies, we rely on computer hardware and software to manage our customers’ advertising campaigns.
To ensure that in the event of a disaster our customers’ service would not experience any downtime, we had previously decided to store our servers in a remote location that had a back-up power source. This decision paid off tremendously and I strongly recommend the same for any business.
Mother nature is a brilliant thing. This goes without saying. In recent years we’ve come to realize that Mother Nature is its own powerful force that we have no control over. However, we can all take the proper steps and measures to be overly prepared for the worst. Your employees are the power behind your business. They are worth it.
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