By Michael Flannery
Before hurricane season arrives each year on June 1, we get the precursor, hurricane prognostication season. And this year, while forecasters are expecting a slightly less active season than the norm, their predictions come with significant caveats.
In predicting “slightly below-average activity” for the 2023 hurricane season, with 13 named storms and six hurricanes, meteorologists from Colorado State University cautioned, “Larger-than-normal uncertainty exists with this outlook,” adding that “the potential still exists for a busy Atlantic hurricane season.”
Forecasters from Accuweather echoed their CSU counterparts, predicting the coming hurricane season will be slightly less active than average, with 11-15 named storms, four to eight of which they anticipate will reach hurricane status.
“But that doesn’t mean there won’t be dangers,” they warned.
In a world where extreme weather seems to be more unpredictable, frequent and damaging than ever, and where the threat of natural disaster looms large, there’s little room for complacency in planning for the big what-if. That’s especially true for businesses that operate in areas that are vulnerable to hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, wildfires and other potentially catastrophic climate-related events. Because the vast majority of organizations depend on 24/7 network connectivity for “always on” business continuity, and many reside in places where the risk of disaster is all too real, it’s critical that they have a plan to protect the integrity of their network to ensure uninterrupted business operations.
The stakes are too high to ignore. A recent study by the Harvard Business Review found that 90% of businesses impacted by Hurricane Harvey in Texas reported losing revenue because of the 2017 storm. In most cases, the losses reached five figures, a sizable amount particularly for smaller businesses. For large enterprises, the average revenue impact of an unplanned application outage is estimated at more than $400,000 per hour, according to an IBM Global Services study. And there are other less quantifiable costs to consider related to diminished brand equity, customer trust and employee productivity.
An organization can become practically invisible without a fully functioning network, not an acceptable outcome for businesses whose customers and employees expect continuous, disruption-free network and application access. Tap into this 7-step disaster preparedness checklist to help organizations preserve network and communications connectivity and business continuity.
- Conduct a formal risk assessment. Determine how well protected your technology foundation, including network and communications infrastructure, is from disruption related to a hurricane or other natural disaster.
- Develop a business continuity plan. Based on the risk assessment, develop a formal plan that details what your organization will do in crisis scenarios and the tools it will lean on to keep the business running. If you already have a plan, be sure to update it regularly to reflect changing risk profile, strategic priorities, etc.
- Consider moving to a more, modern resilient communications network, especially if your organization is relying on an outdated network infrastructure. Older legacy networks (such as MPLS) with on-premises hardware can be especially vulnerable to disruption because they may have a single point of communications failure. That’s not an issue with cloud-based network constructs such as SD-WAN (software-defined wide area network), which has the flexibility to bounce between broadband and ethernet in real time to preserve connectivity and keep apps running for customers and employees.
- Hand the reigns to a trusted third party. Many of today’s cloud-based network communications offerings come as a managed service, with built-in support. If disaster strikes, the managed service provider swings into action for troubleshooting, repairs and the like, freeing your people to focus on other pressing issues. Many organizations consider the extra expense associated with managed services a wise investment because not only does it give them a first responder as part of their team, it reduces their exposure to loss of technology investments.
- Upgrade network security to counter sophisticated cyberthreats. Cybercriminals prey on vulnerable organizations, especially those with aging security hardware and software. To protect a network and the assets attached to it, consider a cloud-based network and data security strategy like SASE (secure access service edge) or SSE (security service edge), which provide the multilayered defenses that on-premises, appliance-based security measures don’t.
- Give yourself multiple communications options. Relying on old-school PBX phone systems and outdated technology to support communications is risky business for organizations in disaster-prone areas. A cloud-based unified communications platform helps preserve communications from any device, over multiple channels (voice, video, messaging, etc.), so connections with customers and suppliers remain open and employees can keep working.
- Ensure people can contact your contact center. Enlisting a cloud-based contact center service managed by a third party can help to ensure there’s a lifeline between your organization and its customers should a hurricane, severe weather event or natural disaster strike.
In 2022 alone, according to a report from insurer AON, communities and businesses dealt with 37 billion-dollar weather-related disasters. With so much at stake, proactive planning to preserve network connectivity isn’t a luxury, it’s a necessity.
Michael Flannery is chief marketing officer at Windstream Enterprise. He is responsible for overseeing marketing, product development, product management, go-to-market strategy, brand strategy, and demand and digital strategies. Additionally, he oversees customer retention and inside sales for Windstream’s mid-market and enterprise segments. https://www.windstreamenterprise.com/
