As a business owner, I have various tasks that needs to be accomplished when running the business. As I was setting up for work, I was updated with the news of flash bloods due to high amounts of rain. Here in Texas we have a lot of heat but also floods, ice, hurricanes, and tornadoes. Standing true to Texas, all that weather can change in a matter of hours. Some of the hidden things that Business owners have to think about are not only sales, fulfillment, customer service and such, but also what will happen in case of a natural disaster.I'm sure the owners of homes and stores in Texas had no idea there would be 2 ft of water in 24 hours within and surrounding the building. Just like the store owners of Lamar Blvd in downtown Austin did not expect the riverbanks to flood earlier this year. Last year we had issues with ice causing shipping delays, dangerous roads, and infrastructure failure.So how do we solve some of this? Sure everyone thinks first of the insurance that will cover the damages, but what do we do in the meantime when our storefront is down?In our case, we had to create back up plan including systems for supply networks, back up power, procedures to keep our employees safe, and remote office capabilities. As a small company we needed to be flexible and pick our systems to be able to support a variety of situations.One of the things I constantly see with security and weather is what to do when you have an unscheduled day off due a variety of reasons and your building is on an automated schedule to unlock and lock the doors. What will you do? It can be as simple as a holiday that was forgotten, to a situation with power off, network down, water rising.... but if you don't think about this ahead of time your doors will automatically unlock and lock. To combat this, we suggest systems that can remotely control this using a variety of platforms, including simply changing it with remote access on your cell. Do you have this capability? Are your security system setting backed up? Does your system have enough back up power to hold the building secure?At Hard Target Systems we evaluate these kind of capabilities with every install. We believe your systems need to work even when there is an unforeseen weather event that can keep your company from being open for the next day's business. This is an important factor into whether you have a profitable month by being able to operate while the insurance fixes the damages and that's the BOTTOM LINE.
