LA Business Continuity: Preparing for PSPS Season with an MSP
Every LA business knows how disruptive Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) season can be. That’s when severe weather forces California cities to cut power to prevent wildfires and mitigate other severe weather disasters.
While government resources and utility alerts typically give companies a heads-up on planned outages, sometimes sudden heatwaves and freak fires can happen far sooner than expected. And even when an outage is planned, businesses without proper resilience can face expensive downtime, lost or corrupted data, and even hardware damage.
In this post, we’re talking about how a managed service provider (MSP) can help LA Businesses (or any Californian business) stay resilient this season.
The Realities of Power Shutoff Season
California businesses have been facing weather-related challenges for years. Nowhere is this more apparent than during PSPS season, when heat, dry conditions, and high winds increase wildfire risk.
And these threats are only increasing. Just this past August, Southern California Edison (SCE) issued an explicit warning that Public Safety Power Shutoffs could happen more frequently, impact more customers, and last longer than usual because of stricter wind-speed triggers.
With these looming threats, the most pressing issue facing businesses is downtime. Downtime is expensive – very expensive. Specifically, the average cost of IT downtime for small to medium-sized businesses ranges from $132 to $427 per minute, which translates roughly to $8,000 to $25,000 per hour.
Normally, a standard power failure lasts only a few hours while utility equipment gets repaired. While that’s already expensive, PSPS outages can last much longer. That’s because power can only be restored after repair crews have physically inspected power lines for damage, and those inspections can take longer depending on the time of day and the extent of damage.
During this time of year, LA businesses need to be ready for extended outages. Local fire departments have even urged residents to be prepared to endure power outages lasting 3 to 5 days.
The danger to small businesses doesn’t end when the power comes back online, either. When businesses don’t power down properly or lack business continuity systems, critical data can be corrupted or lost outright.
So, how can LA businesses maintain their operational resilience in the face of escalating PSPS threats?
By partnering with a managed service provider.
Managed Service Providers and Business Continuity in the Face of PSPS
When it comes to PSPS season, you could not ask for a more fitting partner than an MSP. That’s because helping clients stay resilient during an outage is a pillar of MSP support.
Here is how an MSP can help your LA business this season:
Automated Backup and Recovery Systems
A fundamental element of business continuity, backup and recovery systems make consistent copies of your data. This software typically saves these copies off-site so that, in the event of an outage, your data can be recovered without being permanently lost.
Backups can also be configured in many different ways to fit your business needs. That said, because copying and saving many gigabytes of data can temporarily slow down your network, we recommend speaking with an expert, like The 20 MSP, when deciding on a backup provider and scheduling your backup intervals – many choose to perform backups overnight to avoid these slowdowns.
Hardware Reliance
A few things happen when you hit the power button on your device: systems wind down, specific states are saved, and everything wraps up cleanly.
You should never pull the plug on a computer or slam the power button. In the tech world, we call that a “dirty shutdown,” and it can lead to data corruption and other problems.
But an outage can force a dirty shutdown if you aren’t careful. That’s why you should equip your important devices with hardware that can handle sudden power loss.
This includes robust power strips, heavy-duty uninterruptible power supplies (called UPSs), or even a backup generator for your entire business.
An MSP can help LA businesses locate, purchase, and install this hardware so your devices have the protection and redundancy they need during a power outage.
Business Continuity Plans
The holy grail of business continuity, a business continuity plan is your comprehensive game plan for when things go south.
These plans cover everything from your backup systems and resilience hardware to your emergency points of contact, client communication, and data recovery prioritization.
A lot goes into a business continuity plan – which is why we have an entire blog on the subject – and we highly recommend you work alongside an MSP to customize one to fit your business needs.
Cloud Services and Proactive Remote Work Support
If you know your main office will be offline for a few days, that doesn’t mean work just stops. No LA business can afford that.
Luckily, many organizations are capable of working remotely thanks to an increasing reliance on cloud systems like Microsoft 365 and Google Drive.
An MSP not only helps small businesses with large cloud migrations, but also provides continuous cloud support to make sure your platforms stay reliable when your business moves off-site for a few days.
24/7 Monitoring and Proactive Support
A great MSP will be able to assist your LA business any time, any day, anywhere.
With remote monitoring software, MSP technicians can keep track of and connect to systems that need attention before a PSPS rolls in.
Maybe you forgot to power off a computer before everyone went home before the PSPS event. Maybe your backup systems need a refresh. Or maybe you need help with a server that isn’t quite working right after the grid comes back online.
Whatever it is, your MSP will be there for you – and many times, they’ll already be working on a fix.
The best MSPs are in the business of keeping things working, not just fixing them when they break.
The 20 MSP Helps California Businesses Stay Resilient
If this PSPS season has you worried about your business resilience, know that we’re here for you.
The 20 MSP offers reliable and efficient support to LA businesses, with an office right here in Los Angeles. For a flat-rate monthly fee, you get access to our 24/7 U.S.-based helpdesk and all the business continuity support that we’ve covered here.
Don’t wait until the blackouts start. Reach out today, and let’s get your business protected.
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About The 20 MSP
As a leading provider of managed IT services, The 20 MSP serves thousands of businesses nationwide, providing each one with white-glove service, secure and streamlined IT infrastructure, and 24/7/365 dedicated IT support. We believe in building lasting relationships with clients founded on trust, communication, and the delivery of high-value services for a fair and predictable price. Our clients’ success is our success, and we are committed to helping each and every organization we serve leverage technology to secure a competitive advantage and achieve new growth.
