*This is a guest post, all thoughts and opinions are those of its authors and do not reflect on Techaeris or its staff.
Unexpected power outages can be a massive—and costly—a disruption for business operations. Weather, natural disasters, human error, and accidents are just a few of the ways you could find yourself with the lights out and nowhere to turn. Working without power is more than just costly, though—it can also pose serious security risks as well as risks to the health and safety of your customers and employees.
Having a commercial generator at your workplace to ensure that you can restore services and protect your staff and customers is an important part of being prepared for any emergency. Let’s examine a few of the reasons a generator can help you and your staff.
Protect your business.
As we learned from the recent wildfires in California, regions must sometimes take precautionary action and cut power. According to Forbes, setting up an emergency communications plan can be life or death when it comes to how your business copes during a larger disaster. An emergency communications plan should be thought out well before the disaster occurs, so your team can reset easily when chaos does strike. The plan should be comprehensive enough to help your business survive, but simple enough to allow your team to act quickly. Part of setting up an emergency plan is navigating how your electricity will be sourced in times of strife, and a good solution is oftentimes to incorporate your own power source.
A generator can protect your business in more ways than one. It can allow you to quickly restore essential services during an outage, make sure that all your security equipment is functioning so no one is at risk because of the outage, and provide peace of mind to both you and your customers. Most commercial properties use a diesel generator or a natural gas generator, and you’ll want to make sure it’s powerful enough to handle your critical operations. You can find a diesel generator for sale at a number of retailers both online or in person.
Outages are on the rise.
Online blackout trackers suggested that not only are electrical outrages increasing in frequency, but they’re also becoming more expensive. 18% of businesses experienced a loss of up to $100,000 per outage, according to the S&C’s 2018 State of Commercial & Industrial Power Reliability Report. It also stated that one in four companies are experiencing outages at least once a month. The potential for financial loss and the safety risk posed makes it logical to include a generator in your business plan. Continuity is underappreciated as an asset in business and customers respond positively to the reliability, especially in the face of unexpected circumstances.
Unfortunately, small businesses are most often impacted by power outages. Beyond the obvious struggle of not being able to work, effects such as loss of sales and revenue, a downtick in customer satisfaction, and a negative reputation can follow these untimely disasters. Some more ways to curb the effects of a power outage include backing up employee files on a cloud system, setting up systems and knowledge for your folks to work remotely if possible, and providing internal and dedicated support to your team in times of hardship.
As we are learning from the current pandemic, flexibility in a business is vital. Now is a perfect time for business owners to take a break from the usual daily grind and assess protocols and infrastructures to equip once we are all back at work, operating live. Maybe this period at home has given you some time to consider how you will handle emergencies moving forward. And with less foot traffic going in and out of your storefront, you have a little more space to discuss systems that will help you run smoothly in the longterm.
Be prepared, not surprised.
For many entrepreneurs, detailing a plan for a power outage is not at the forefront of the brain when embarking on a new business. For small businesses especially, a lot of big ideas are left to be managed by a small number of people and a lot of elbow grease. It can be tricky to manage your dream while also juggling the ins-and-outs of details. The biggest thing to remember is: You are not alone. Every business owner, at some point, has to learn to cope with an emergency and equip new tools for going forward.
You can never be prepared for every single possible emergency your business might encounter, but you can do your best to equip yourself to handle common ones that have simple solutions. As any business owner will tell you, you need to expect the unexpected. When you own a business that can be affected by a sudden loss of power, a generator is a simple and efficient way to be sure that the issue won’t be debilitating. It’s important to point out that simply purchasing and installing a generator isn’t enough; you must properly maintain it in order for it to function properly and safely. Using a professional service or an expert to assist with installation and maintenance is highly recommended.
There are a lot of considerations when creating an effective continuity plan for your business, but a generator should be high up on your list. The most common causes of power outages (weather, man-made accidents, natural disasters, etc.) occur frequently enough that most businesses can reasonably expect a power disruption at some point. Having a backup plan to ensure that your essential services can be maintained is just a sensible move that will give you and your staff peace of mind.
There are also a lot of potential safety risks associated with an ongoing loss of power in a commercial building. Being able to respond to a power outage quickly and restore service is key for maintaining consumer confidence and demonstrating reliability. Outages are on the rise and studies show that they’re costing businesses that aren’t prepared significant amounts of money. Investing in the installation and maintenance of a generator for your business is a smart way to keep things running smoothly.
Last Updated on February 3, 2021.
