It doesn’t take a direct hit to shut a business down for a few days.

Most summers in Central Florida, at least one storm rolls through that drops heavy rain, kicks up strong winds, and knocks out power for two or three days. Roads flood. Travel gets difficult. Your office building is probably fine, but getting to it isn’t. That’s the scenario I want to talk about, because that’s the one that actually happens to businesses in this area.

The question most small businesses can’t answer with confidence

If your staff can’t get to the office for three days, can they still work?

For a lot of small businesses in Lady Lake, The Villages, and the surrounding area, the honest answer is “I think so.” That’s not the same as yes.

Working from home during a stretch like that requires three things: access to your files, access to your software, and a way for clients to reach you. If any one of those is missing, your team is waiting out the storm instead of working through it.

Files on an office computer aren’t accessible from home

This is where most businesses run into trouble. Files stored on a local computer or a shared drive at the office don’t follow you home. If you’re running QuickBooks installed on one machine, or storing documents on a server in the back room, those files stay there when you leave.

The fix is moving those files somewhere that travels with you. Cloud storage and remote access tools let your staff get to everything they need from a laptop at home. It’s not complicated to set up, and it changes a three-day shutdown into a three-day slowdown.

Your office phone rings to nothing

If the power is out or you’re not in the building, a traditional landline doesn’t help anyone. Clients calling during or after a storm get no answer or a voicemail nobody can check.

A business phone setup that routes calls to mobile phones keeps your number working regardless of what’s happening at the office. Clients don’t need to know you’re working from your kitchen table. They just need someone to pick up.

The backup you have may not be the backup you think you have

A lot of offices in this area have an external drive sitting next to the computer they’re backing up. That works fine until the building you can’t get to is also the building the backup is sitting in.

An offsite backup copies your files somewhere outside your office automatically, every day. If you can’t get to your building for a week, your data is still there and recoverable. That’s the version of backup that actually protects you when conditions make it difficult to travel.

What I’d suggest checking before the season gets going

Hurricane season runs through November. The heavy activity tends to hit August through October, which means there’s still time to get things in order without rushing.

Three questions worth asking yourself right now:

  • Can someone on your team access the files they need from home today, without going into the office?
  • If your office phone went unanswered for three days, how many clients would be left without a response?
  • When did you last confirm that your backup actually restores? Not that it’s running, but that it actually works?

If any of those answers are uncertain, that’s a reasonable place to start a conversation.

I work with small businesses in Lady Lake, The Villages, Leesburg, and the surrounding area. If you want to know where your office stands heading into storm season, I’m happy to take a look. Give me a call at 352-561-8106 or reach out at hello@intermachine.io.

If a rough storm kept your staff home for three days starting tomorrow, what’s the first thing that would stop working?