It appears likely that Hurricane Irene may make a direct hit on the New York metropolitan area over the upcoming weekend.\u00a0 The latest reports suggest that it will arrive very late on Saturday and continue all day Sunday.\u00a0 I want you to know that Heliotropic Systems is actively monitoring the forecasts and taking several steps to assist our clients in the event of any impact.<\/p>\n
Please review the following list of 8 recommendations and share it with the appropriate members of your company.\u00a0 Obviously, I hope that no one will suffer any impact, personally or professionally, from this storm.\u00a0 One of my favorite sayings is “Better to have a plan and not need it, than need a plan and not have it.”\u00a0 I hope that the simple step of reading this blog posting and taking these recommendations seriously, will help you weather the storm (yes, the pun is intended) without issue.
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\n1. Prepare For a Power Outage<\/p>\n
It is highly likely that you will lose power during this storm.\u00a0 As a result, I am strongly recommending that you power down all non-essential equipment.\u00a0 All personal computers, printers, copiers, phone systems, scanners, and so forth should be powered off and unplugged from the wall outlets for the weekend.\u00a0 All of your servers are protected by battery backup systems (UPS); however, it is highly likely that you may endure a power outage that will outlast the ability of your battery backups to keep your systems up and running.\u00a0 This will result in the UPS properly shutting down your servers when battery power runs low.<\/p>\n
If you are in an area that is known for power outages or spiking during storms like this, I also recommend you consider shutting down your servers as well, to ensure maximum safety.\u00a0 Depending on your exact circumstance, if you power down your servers, you might lose the ability to send and receive e-mail during this time, so you want to evaluate what the impact of not having e-mail during this time may be.<\/p>\n
2. Remove Backups Off-Site<\/p>\n
If you are not presently using an automated off-site backup, to ensure that your backups are safely outside of your office, you will want to be certain that you have a complete copy of your most recent backup taken off-site Friday evening.<\/p>\n
3. Find Out What Your Building Management Office Plans Are<\/p>\n
When a hurricane hits, it is very common to lose power.\u00a0 Some building management groups have turned off power on the complete building before the storm hits.\u00a0 If these are their plans, please shut down your equipment in order to avoid abrupt shutdowns.\u00a0 This includes computers, servers, phone systems, fax machines, copiers, UPS’s, etc.<\/p>\n
4. Remove Equipment from Floor and Move All Equipment Away from Windows<\/p>\n
If your office has a risk of flooding, this can obviously create significant issues with the computer equipment.\u00a0 Please make sure that all equipment is at least 12″ off the ground.\u00a0 Make sure to move all equipment at least 6 feet away from windows.<\/p>\n
5. Document ALL Emergency and Support Numbers<\/p>\n
It is important to document all emergency and technical support numbers and take them with you off-site; for example, your Internet Service Provider and telephone line provider.\u00a0 If you do not have access to your office, you will need to contact these providers quickly to make other arrangements.\u00a0 Please make sure you have this documentation on paper since computers may not be accessible.\u00a0 Emergency contact information for Heliotropic Systems is included at the bottom of this post.<\/p>\n
6. Take Pictures of Your Offices and Equipment<\/p>\n
Digital pictures can be stored on multiple pieces of equipment and backed up on your server as well.\u00a0 These pictures will be very handy if your office is adversely affected by the hurricane.\u00a0 You will need before and after pictures for any insurance claims.<\/p>\n
7. Make Arrangements to Use Other Forms of Communication<\/p>\n
If your server and\/or ISP are not up and running, you should be able to communicate through a different method.\u00a0 Please remember that cell phone service should remain up, but may be interrupted.\u00a0 Texting or free e-mail services like Gmail may provide a short-term way to communicate should your office lose power for an extended period of time.<\/p>\n
8. Business Continuity Plan (BCP)<\/p>\n
While today is not the time, you should periodically dust off your Business Continuity Plan (BCP) plan and see how well it still applies.\u00a0 If possible, go through a test and make sure all of the required personnel and systems are still available and aware of their roles.\u00a0 Your BCP should include how to contact fellow employees and clients in case the office is unavailable, where to meet and what you will need to function as a company.\u00a0 Distribute cellular numbers as well as home numbers to key team members.\u00a0 Assign an out of area contact to be available to receive information from your employees in case of emergency.<\/p>\n
If you do not have a BCP, you should.\u00a0 Once we get through this hurricane, please feel free to contact me to discuss getting a BCP in place for your company so you will always have that plan that I hope you will never need<\/em>.<\/p>\n To access emergency support during the storm, please call me at 201-363-8703<\/strong>.\u00a0 If my office phone system is affected, my line will auto forward directly to my cell phone.<\/p>\n I hope you will weather this storm without issue and that your family, friends, and co-workers will all remain safe and sound.\u00a0 If you have any questions or concerns about preparing for this weekend, please feel free to call me.\u00a0 I will be available throughout the weekend, monitoring the storm, and any potential impact on you, my valued clients.<\/p>\n Stay safe,<\/p>\n Larry<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It appears likely that Hurricane Irene may make a direct hit on the New York metropolitan area over the upcoming weekend.\u00a0 The latest reports suggest that it will arrive very late on Saturday and continue all day Sunday.\u00a0 I want you to know that Heliotropic Systems is actively monitoring the forecasts and taking several steps …<\/span> Read More →<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heliotropicsystems.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heliotropicsystems.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heliotropicsystems.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heliotropicsystems.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heliotropicsystems.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.heliotropicsystems.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":121,"href":"https:\/\/www.heliotropicsystems.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119\/revisions\/121"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heliotropicsystems.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heliotropicsystems.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heliotropicsystems.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}