Here's something most Long Island business owners don't think about until it's too late. That blizzard heading our way doesn't just mean shoveling the parking lot. Your entire technology setup is about to get tested in ways you probably haven't prepared for.
Local businesses scramble when the first real snowstorm hits. Servers go down. Internet dies. Everyone panics because nobody can access critical files. And suddenly, you're losing money by the hour while your competitors somehow stay operational.
What Really Happens When Your Tech Isn't Winter-Ready
A single day of technology downtime can cost a small business thousands of dollars.
Think about your server room right now.
Temperature swings destroy electronics. Your systems are in a cold office building overnight, then warming up when the heat comes, creating moisture inside the machine. Hard drives hate that. Backup systems fail because of it. And most business owners don't realize there's a problem until the equipment just stops working.
Then there's the power situation. Winter storms don't just knock out electricity. They send voltage spikes through your building that can harm everything connected to your network. One lightning strike, one downed power line, is all it takes to destroy your expensive equipment without proper protection.
The Server Room Needs Ongoing Attention
Walk into your server room right now. What do you see? If you're like most businesses, it's probably a room that gets checked maybe once a month. But winter changes everything about how that space needs to be managed.
The smart move? Get sensors in there that actually alert someone when conditions go wrong. Not just a thermometer you check manually, but something that sends alerts to your phone at 2 AM when the temperature drops below safe levels. Because problems don't wait for business hours to start happening.
Here's another thing nobody thinks about. Snow piles up on the roof, and eventually it melts. If there's any weakness in the roofing system, water finds a way in. Water and server equipment are not a combination you recover from easily. One leak can destroy your entire infrastructure faster than almost any other disaster.
One Internet Connection Isn't Enough Anymore
During Long Island winters, businesses with only one internet connection face a risky situation.
You need a backup. Not eventually, not when the budget allows. You need it now, before the first major storm. It’s not about just having your phone as a hotspot backup. That's not going to cut it when your entire operation depends on staying connected.
The better approach is to have two completely different types of internet connections. Maybe fiber as your primary and cable as backup. Or cable primary with a serious cellular connection for backup. The key is making sure they don't both fail for the same reason.
If you're running your phones over your internet connection, which most businesses do now with VoIP systems, losing internet means losing your phones, too. That's why some businesses keep a traditional landline or two around. Old-fashioned? Maybe. But effective when everything else goes down.
Remote Work Just Made Everything More Complicated
COVID changed how we work, but it also changed what can go wrong with business technology. Now you've got employees scattered across Long Island, all depending on their home internet and personal power situations.
Your employees working from home don't have enterprise-grade surge protectors. They don't have backup power. They might be working on aging equipment that wasn't designed for daily business use. Every one of those factors becomes your problem when winter weather hits their neighborhood.
Cloud tools help, but only if people can actually get online to access them. And there's a balance to strike between making systems accessible remotely and keeping your data secure. Too locked down and people can't work. Too open and you're inviting security problems.
Backing Up Data Properly Is More Complicated Than You Think
Keeping backups in the same building as your main systems is asking for trouble. One power problem can wreck both. If your server gets hit, there is a good chance your backup drive sitting three feet away got hit too. It probably took out your backup drive, too. Flood in the building? Your backup equipment is getting just as wet as everything else.
Cloud backups solve the geography problem. Cloud storage puts your data miles away from whatever's going wrong at your building. Backups run themselves without anyone needing to be there. But you absolutely need to test them regularly.
Set a reminder right now. First Monday of every month, restore something from your backups. A folder, or maybe a few files. You want to find out your backups are broken during a lazy day, not when everything's on fire and you actually need them.
Those Basic Power Strips Aren't Protecting You
Basic power strips from office supply stores might stop small surges, but aren't meant for serious power issues. What you actually need are UPS systems that provide uninterrupted power. These don't just protect against surges; they provide battery backup that keeps your equipment running long enough to shut down properly when power fails. Servers especially need this. A sudden power loss can corrupt data and damage hardware. A UPS gives you time to shut everything down safely.
Some companies invest in generators for their really important stuff. When power dies, the generator takes over in seconds, and the business keeps running. It costs money upfront, sometimes quite a bit.. But compare that cost to the loss of several days of business during an extended outage.
The thing about generators is that they need maintenance and fuel. They also need testing.
Make Sure Your Team Actually Knows the Plan
Sophisticated tools are useless to your business if nobody knows how to use them. Should someone power down the servers before leaving ahead of a big storm? Who gets called when things break? How does everyone work from home if the office loses power?
Ask around your office. You'll get different answers from different people, or no answer at all. That's because most places never document this process. People improvise when problems happen, which means mistakes get made that cost you money.
Get this information on paper. Stick copies by the equipment. Make absolutely certain everyone can find it easily. In the middle of a crisis, your employees won't remember what someone told them months ago in a meeting. They need instructions they can look at right then.
Then actually test things. Practice what happens during a storm when nobody's actually panicking. You'll find problems with your plan that you never considered.
The Vendors You Choose Matter More Than You Realize
Some IT companies talk about 24/7 support, but when you actually need them during a storm, suddenly everyone's unavailable. The relationships you build with technology vendors before emergencies happen determine how quickly you get help when things go wrong.
Service agreements that spell out response times are important. But also understand that during major weather events, getting a technician to physically come to your location might be impossible. That's why remote support capabilities matter so much. Can your IT provider fix problems without being on-site?
Pay attention to the age of your equipment. That server that's been running for seven years? It's living on borrowed time. Better to replace it on your schedule than have it die during the worst possible moment.
Getting Started Before Winter Arrives
Technology problems are completely predictable and mostly preventable. You just need to be proactive.
Make a realistic assessment. Check what's vulnerable and what’s protected? What's one power outage away from disaster?
Write down everything that looks risky. Figure out what would hurt most if it died. Start there. You won't fix everything before the first snowstorm. But take care of the critical things for your business's survival.
Winter's coming to Long Island, whether your technology is ready or not. Call B&L PC Solutions to ensure your business is proactively and comprehensively protected from the wrath of winter.
Tags: BusinessIT, ITSupport
