Are you ready for a Hurricane?
I know you are thinking about your last visit to New Orleans and Pat O’Brien’s. You’re imagining that lovely beverage invented there – the Hurricane, right?!
But this is the story of a Disaster Recovery plan, the company’s technology platform partner, and an actual hurricane.
It was a great day. The sun was shining and all was right with the equipment finance world. But a storm was brewing. In came heavy rains, high winds and deafening thunder. Time to batten down the hatches.
This heavy storm became a Category 5 Hurricane. All power gone. Cell service gone. Internet gone. All communication gone.
With 380 agreements in the final stages of booking and most sitting incomplete when the power went out, this was a major concern. Those contracts HAD to be finalized. If not, the company would suffer a significant loss.
Failure was NOT an option.
Disaster Recovery Kicked into High Gear.
Getting to a new location ASAP and being back online was mission critical. LTi Technology Solutions, their technology partner, had them up and running by day 3, in a different location, 400 miles away. It was as if nothing had ever happened.
To say this hurricane disrupted their lives and business is a gross understatement. They are still feeling the effects of it. But, their business is not. Thanks to LTi and our amazing team of people, it was a seamless transition from a SaaS, Cloud perspective. Everything worked as promised. But as this experience proved out, being prepared with a Disaster Recovery plan is an absolute must.
With a Disaster Recovery plan is in place, survival is guaranteed. Take a lesson from a company in Texas
whose office was devastated by Hurricane Harvey in August 2017. Over 4 days, more than 40 inches of rain fell and when it was all over, caused more than $125 billion in damage.
Their office destroyed, they never returned. However, operations were hardly affected. Due to the fact that most of their data was stored in the cloud. This allowed for an easy transition to working remote and not losing access to critical documents and records. Ultimately the company stayed decentralized, allowing remote work and eventually becoming a standard for other businesses during the pandemic. Had the company kept all its data stored at the office, the business may never have recovered.
And many businesses would find themselves in a similar situation however, they aren’t fully prepared. Relying on a 3rd party managed service provider is fine, but without fully understanding who is responsible for what when it comes to Disaster Recovery, there could be a bigger disaster looming. Many businesses cannot withstand this kind of disruption in business and may close its doors permanently. Without the proper Disaster Recovery plan it happens more than it needs to. As the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) reports that “roughly 40% to 60% of small businesses never reopen their doors following a disaster.
The 7 tiers of Disaster Recovery
Lesson learned: SaaS, Cloud hosting is the way to go. Prior to their partnership with LTi, they had a local Disaster Recovery (DR) plan. Had that still been the case when the hurricane hit, they would have been down for more than 3 months, as many businesses in the same location unfortunately were. Several businesses closed their doors permanently after taking such a huge loss.
But that is not how this story ends. This company has been with LTi for 9 years now. And as they said, they couldn’t imagine a better partner. The SaaS, Cloud solution we provide is specific to our platform and it made all the difference, as did our people.
When determining the best cloud hosting provider for your Disaster Recovery plan, ask questions about this type of worst case scenario. Ask to speak to a customer who has experienced this kind of situation and how their technology partner handled it. Where they ‘all hands on deck or did they avoid emails and phone calls.
Get references. Find out how they handle pressure, such as a hurricane. Everyone understands Disaster Recovery is important, but many businesses do not make it a priority, and that’s when you find out it is a big priority.
Not have a DR plan can have catastrophe downstream impacts on your business. Being prepared and never needing will provide peace of mind. Because we all know it’s impossible to predict the weather, but having the Disaster Recovery plan in
place to manage it, that is predictable.
So, are YOU ready for a hurricane?
If you aren’t, or are not sure, maybe it’s time to make that call. Working with LTi, utilizing our customized cloud and SaaS solutions, created exclusively for our platform, not just a generic SaaS solution, can provide the peace of mind you may be missing.
