The winter weather has been out in full force all over the United States even bringing snow to Southern states – a real novelty for people not accustomed to seeing any of the white stuff. While a snow day or two can be a nice little break in the doldrums of winter, too much inclimate weather can make a real mess of your work schedule and productivity.

Fortunately today’s technology offers more options for keeping up with the workload (well, unless you’ve lost electricity for several days of course). Using digital phone technology like Voice over Internet Protocol or VoIP allows you to forward your calls to your cell phone so business contacts can still reach you even if you’re home under 4 feet of snow.

Video conferencing allows you to conduct face-to-face meetings in case you can’t get out of your driveway. If your employees are set up with video conferencing, you can still have your weekly staff meeting. It’s also beneficial if you have clients or customers in other cities or states. You may be stuck with the snow but they’re operating normally and setting up a video conference call or having your calls forwarded to your cell or home phone allows you to keep up with client concerns despite your snow day at home.

Making good use of technology is a great way to keep business on track when faced with situations beyond your control – such as a record snowfall. And it allows employees to stay home and off dangerous roads. You wouldn’t want employees risking their safety to get to the office and meet a deadline – yet you want them to be able to stay on track with projects and contracts. Oh, and make the occasional snow angel.