With customers up and down the Carolina coast, we at Spirit Telecom know being prepared for a hurricane is of utmost importance. Yet disasters can come in many forms from natural weather-related ones to a fire, a power outage or a technical failure.

A technical disaster – such as when a server fails or the telephone system goes down – c an cost companies plenty of time and productivity, which can translate into major financial loss. Technical problems eat up staff and management time in trying to solve the problem. Employees are frustrated they can’t get their work done. And you just hope your customers or clients aren’t impacted by the issues and downtime.

Some reports estimate the cost of an IT outage can reach 1 percent of overall revenue. And depending on the length of time your system is down or how much data is lost, your finances may suffer even more. Check out this online calculator  from a disaster recovery solutions provider to help determine the cost of company downtime.

Businesses should work closely with their IT partners to ensure data and technical equipment are properly protected and backed up in the event of a disaster.

Some questions to ask:

• How is my data backed up and secured?
• Is the data co-located or backed up on an off-site location? (An extra precaution should disaster strike your IT provider.)
• What is the response time should a disaster occur?
• Is technical support located in my city or at least close enough to arrive at my business quickly?

We’d be happy to answer your disaster questions! Post a comment below.