Author: Bit-Wizards
The 2025 Atlantic hurricane season has arrived, with experts anticipating above-average activity and over a dozen named storms this year. Our area is no stranger to the risks posed by hurricanes and how to prepare for them, especially when it comes to keeping people safe. At Bit-Wizards, we unfortunately know that many local businesses fail to prepare and ensure their survival in the event of a hurricane or major storm.
If a hurricane strikes and your business IT isn’t prepared, you could lose critical pieces of your company and suffer significant costs. While evacuating your employees and their loved ones can be done, physically taking any IT equipment that powers your business is logistically challenging and impractical. Even if you take the equipment with you, there’s no guarantee you can make it work once you’ve relocated.
If you can’t move everything, you’ll then need to replace what’s damaged. While losing a single piece of hardware can be a more manageable cost, the scale of your business can make that price unaffordable. An even more costly loss than physical equipment is data loss. Everything you’ve built can disappear in an instant, and it can’t always be restored. Even if you start from square one with new hardware, the loss of customer trust can mean the end of your business.
Unfortunately, too many business owners learn this lesson the hard way, with 25% of businesses closing their doors for good after a hurricane or other disaster. Hardware, data, and reputation losses can quickly accumulate and become too much to handle, so it’s essential to act now. Even though hurricane season is already here, it’s still not too late to do what you can to prevent catastrophic losses.
The best way to prepare your business for a hurricane is by developing a business continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR) plan to keep your operations running, avoid major disruptions, and prioritize the well-being of your employees. Your BCDR plan should outline every aspect of how your team should prepare for an incoming hurricane, from moving essential pieces of hardware to resuming operations after evacuating.
A thorough BCDR plan should prioritize two distinct goals that each focus on keeping your operations running during and after a disaster. The business continuity portion involves supporting the people and processes that fuel your company. Plans should be made to ensure your employees can evacuate safely while continuing to support critical customer services and avoid major interruptions.
The disaster recovery component focuses heavily on preparing and recovering any IT systems that fuel your business. All efforts should minimize any potential downtime or impact on your operations from a technological standpoint. Both goals overlap and support each other considerably, ensuring every aspect of your business is ready for worst-case scenarios.
The most helpful thing you can include in your plan is how you’ll shift your files and programs to the cloud. Switching to cloud-based operations and storage means you and your employees can access anything you need and stay connected wherever you are. Many cloud storage options also help you create and store backups, adding another layer of data loss prevention in the event a program quits, or a hurricane strikes.
Even if your office is in a hurricane’s path, using the cloud and preparing your IT can help you minimize potential losses. If you want help creating a BCDR plan or making your operations more resilient through everyday outages or major disasters, Bit-Wizards can help. With our Managed IT Services (MITS), your business can prepare for the worst while striving for the best. Visit www.bitwizards.com/services/bcdr to learn more.
