After the large South Australian state wide power outage that occurred in December 2016, a lot of people are now wondering how they can protect their businesses during power outages.
So, how can you be equipped?
Firstly, Surge Protectors can protect your devices during a power outage.
One of the first places to start would be to look at installing surge protectors around your business at bare minimum to ensure no damage to electrical equipment occurs during a power surge. These are particularly important to devices like desktop computers and various other equipment like modems, routers and expensive phone systems, as these particular devices aren’t cheap to replace. Surge protectors come in all different sizes, brands and prices from places like Office Works and are designed to protect your equipment during an unplanned blackout or power outage. They usually look like power boards but have circuit breakers built into them.
Secondly, you should have A UPS or; Uninterruptible Power Supply plugged in with every PC.
These types of devices provide alternative short term power to devices when the main power has gone out.
These devices are mainly used with computers and phone systems, so it’s good to have these on hand plugged in at all times to allow those working to save their work and shutdown their computers safely, ensuring no data loss.
On average, these can take around 8 hours or so to charge fully once plugged in and can give power to devices for several minutes to an hour, depending on the device. They can be purchased at places like Office Works.
Thirdly, a Power Generator will keep your business running during a power outage.
Power generators are a great way to really save your business during large power outages, especially if you are running many work stations and devices such as on-site servers and can’t afford to be without power at all.
These can vary in price, ranging from $500 to thousands, depending on what sort of generator you require to keep your business running. They use diesel fuel to generate power when connected to the mains power. They can usually be purchased from hardware stores. When purchasing one of these, it’s imperative that you do your research on what type of generator you will need to ensure you make the right decision. If you do go down this path, it’s recommended to read the manual you receive with your backup generator and follow the manufacturers guide as to how to maintain it to ensure it’s ready during a power outage.
Lastly, we can’t stress enough about Backups!
In case of a power outage, it’s recommended to do daily backups of all computers to ensure all data is backed up each day. You can view our blog on various methods of backups here.
If you are concerned about your business and IT operations in the event of power outages, contact Forerunner’s Friendly Techs to discuss potential options on (08) 8269 5260 or support@forerunner.com.au.
