How Business Owners Can Weather the Storm: IT Preparedness

Let’s run through some of the real horror story scenarios that could happen to you if you are not prepared.

Real-World Examples: When a Business Isn’t Prepared

Let’s say you run a 30-person accounting firm in Baton Rouge. A major storm knocks out power and internet across the city. Your building is inaccessible, and your servers, still hosted on-site, go down.

There’s no cloud backup. No one knows who’s in charge. Employees can’t access the recovery plan because it was printed and left at the office. Your clients are calling, but your phone system isn’t forwarding because it’s tied to your building’s infrastructure.

As hours turn to days, you begin losing clients who can’t afford to wait. Your staff scrambles to find files and communicate with clients using personal emails and phones. Regulators ask for updates, but you have nothing to offer. Your reputation suffers, and the damage may be permanent.

All of this could’ve been avoided with a plan.

Real-World Scenario: When a Medical Clinic Faces a Storm Without a Plan

Consider a small outpatient medical clinic located in New Orleans that serves hundreds of patients each week, many of whom require regular treatments and prescription refills. The clinic relies on a local server to access electronic health records (EHR), schedule appointments, and process insurance claims.

When a Category 3 hurricane makes landfall, the clinic is forced to close for several days due to flooding and power loss. Their local server is damaged in the outage, and staff can’t access patient records or contact patients whose care has been disrupted. They attempt to use personal cell phones to check on critical patients, but have no access to phone numbers—those were stored in the EHR.

Pharmacies are calling to verify prescriptions, but without access to systems or backups, the staff can’t respond. Regulators later inquired about the outage and the clinic’s continuity plan, but there was none. HIPAA compliance comes into question due to unencrypted communications used in the chaos.

Patient safety, legal compliance, and the clinic’s reputation are all compromised, all because there was no disaster recovery or communication plan in place.

Real-World Scenario: When EMS and Hospitals Are Caught Unprepared

During a fast-moving tropical storm, a regional hospital in southern Louisiana begins experiencing power fluctuations and connectivity issues. The facility’s backup generator kicks in, but due to a lack of regular maintenance and fuel supply oversight, it fails within hours. Vital machines in the emergency room, including ventilators, heart monitors, and infusion pumps, begin shutting down.

At the same time, the local EMS dispatch system, which is hosted in a nearby but off-site office, loses its primary communication server, and no cloud failover was ever set up. Paramedics in the field can’t get real-time updates on which hospitals are accepting patients, nor can they transmit critical data ahead of arrival. Calls are being routed through personal cell phones with no encryption or call logs, risking HIPAA violations.

One patient in cardiac arrest is transported to the hospital, but the ER’s systems are still offline. Staff struggle to verify medications or access the patient’s prior history. Defibrillators function, but the patient’s chart and allergy information are unavailable, delaying treatment. Unfortunately, the patient doesn’t survive.

In the aftermath, investigations show that there was no coordinated disaster recovery or communication plan between the EMS unit, the hospital, or the parish emergency management. The tragedy draws media attention, triggering lawsuits and regulatory audits. All of it could have been prevented with modern cloud backups, redundant communication systems, and a tested emergency response protocol.

The real-world examples highlight just how devastating a lack of preparation can be. Now that we’ve seen the costly consequences of not having a plan, it’s time to focus on proactive steps your business can take to protect itself before the next storm hits.

The following checklist offers a solid foundation for building a disaster recovery strategy that minimizes risk, ensures continuity, and keeps your business running, even in the face of extreme weather.

Top Things a Business Should Do to Prepare for Hurricane Season

Below is a step-by-step framework to protect your business and ensure continuity, even in the face of a major natural disaster.

1. Create a Core Disaster Recovery Plan

✅ Keep it Short, Clear, and Actionable

Your disaster recovery plan doesn’t have to be a 50-page binder. A simple 2–3-page plan that outlines the critical actions your company will take during a disaster is far more effective.

✅ Make It an Official Company Policy

This should not be a “suggested guideline” or an old document buried in a drawer. Make the plan a living policy that everyone understands and follows.

2. Ensure Accessibility of the Plan

✅ Use Cloud-Based Storage

The recovery plan should be accessible from any location and device. Use tools like:

• SharePoint
• Company intranet portals
• Encrypted cloud drives

Avoid relying on email attachments or printed copies—these are not accessible when systems go down.

✅ Mobile Accessibility

Ensure your team can access the plan via smartphones. During an emergency, mobile access is often the fastest and most reliable option.

3. Get Leadership Buy-In

✅ Approval and Participation from the Top

Leadership must not only review and approve the disaster recovery plan—they must be actively involved in its creation and execution. Their endorsement ensures the plan has authority and will be followed.

✅ Avoid Surprises

When leadership is aligned with the plan, there’s no confusion about when to activate it or who makes the call.

4. Define Roles and Decision Authority

✅ Who’s in Charge?

Clearly document:

• Who leads the disaster response
• Who can authorize office closures, remote work, or cloud failover
• Who communicates with clients and regulators

✅ Eliminate Bottlenecks

Empower secondary decision-makers to act if primary contacts are unavailable.

5. Establish a Communication Plan

✅ Internal Communication

Set up systems to quickly notify employees. Consider:

• Emergency text alert systems
• Company hotlines
• Group messaging apps like Slack or Microsoft Teams

✅ External Communication

Prepare templates and channels for outreach to:

• Clients
• Vendors
• Regulators
• Investors

Ensure your message is transparent, timely, and consistent.

✅ Backup Channels

Have redundant methods (e.g., text, voice, email, cloud-based tools) in place in case primary systems are down.

6. Train and Review Annually

✅ Practice Makes Prepared

Hold short annual review sessions or tabletop exercises with your team. Even informal drills can make a big difference.

✅ Update When Needed

Any time your business changes—new staff, new tools, new locations—update the plan accordingly.

7. Centralized Disaster Response Information

Create a single, easy-to-find portal or knowledge base that contains:

• The disaster recovery plan
• Emergency contact info
• Step-by-step procedures
• Access to critical systems and backups

This makes information easy to find when it matters most.

Don’t Wait—Act Now

Disaster doesn’t strike on a schedule. That’s why the best time to prepare is before hurricane season starts.

A clear, concise disaster recovery plan endorsed by leadership, accessible from anywhere, and supported by cloud tools can mean the difference between bouncing back quickly or losing everything.

Ready to Get Started?

Turn Key Solutions helps Louisiana businesses build smart, effective disaster recovery plans tailored to their industry, size, and risk level. Let us help you stay ready, no matter what hurricane season throws your way.