Power Outages | Don’t risk losing your Critical Data!
With power outages forecasted to increase, having an unprotected business is a big risk to take when there is power protection readily available.
Businesses must recognise that power outages resulting in critical data loss and downtime can in fact be prevented. The purchase and maintenance of an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) and/or generator will eliminate the risks to your business as a consequence of a power outage, such as loss of in revenue, loss of critical data and damage to your business’s reputation and image.
Power outages are mainly caused by weather, but also include vandalism and accidental damage.
Unexpected power outages do happen and are often due to circumstances that are beyond our control, for example, severe weather, vandalism, third party damage etc.
- Severe weather is the main reason for power outages and includes high winds damaging power lines, trees falling down onto power lines, water finding it’s way into underground electricity cables and damaging the cables and so on…
- Vandalism has involved the cutting of power cables and poles in the past
- Third party accidental damage, for example during building works, have also led to power outages. This February a Waitrose store in Walden had to close in the afternoon because of a power cut caused by third-party damage to high voltage underground cables, leading to thousands of pounds worth of loss in revenue and food wastage.
While engineers make it their priority to restore power as quickly as possible, even a lapse in power can have harmful repercussions for your business. Having a backup supply of power is, therefore, crucial.
So, when power outages do happen – and they will – your business needs to be protected
Your business should have the right backup power source in place – either an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) and/or generator. The type of UPS or generator is dependent on the size and the demands of your business, which may change over time.
Your backup power source needs to be serviced and maintained correctly. Scheduled servicing, monitoring and load testing by experts, is essential to ensure that your UPS/generator can be relied upon when needed. This also includes ensuring your data centre has professional cleans to avoid contamination. If not, your business runs the risk of losing money unnecessarily.
Power suppliers heavily advise that businesses are proactive, not reactive in protecting their critical data
Below is a chart is taken from an Emerson report showing that UPS Battery failure is the leading reason an existing UPS system fails during a power outage. Having your batteries regularly maintained and serviced would easily alleviate this risk.
Power outages cost businesses thousands of pounds in lost data and revenue
This is not only lost revenue incurred from downtime but also repair costs to damaged equipment, the replacement of equipment is damaged beyond repair as well as the manpower costs.
Downtime, even if just for a matter of seconds, can carry a huge price tag. Exact figures on how much power outages cost businesses are hard to come by but according to Dunn & Bradstreet, 59 percent of Fortune 500 companies experience a minimum of 1.6 hours downtime a week, which translates to a cost of £30.4m annually. Other research claims that the average UK business can lose up to £3,000 per minute during a power outage.
Don’t wait to see what your business and data centre are vulnerable to. Having a dependable UPS and/or generator are crucial components to help your data centre continue running as normal when power is down.
For more information about purchasing a UPS and/or generator for your business, and to learn more about our maintenance contract and critical load testing we carry out, contact us. We will be more than happy to answer any questions.
