As you become the all-in-one technology expert for your clients, you can help them develop a business continuity plan to protect their digital assets from disaster, hacking, or whatever disruptions we face next.

The first step in the conversation is determining an acceptable downtime for the various departments in your client’s business. Next, show them how your technology can meet or improve on those downtimes.

Disaster Recovery vs. Disaster Preparedness

With hurricane season already underway, and the non-nature related disasters of 2020, you don’t need to convince your clients that they need to move from reactive recovery to proactive preparedness. While they can’t control what gets destroyed by lightning or a fire, you can help them develop a plan to be better prepared. 

When the office is inaccessible

In severe snowstorms or hurricanes, many employees couldn’t get to the office if they tried. Teach your clients the benefits of laptops and mobile devices compared with desktops and help them develop policies on the best security practices for home or public WiFi networks.

Power outage? Geo-redundant network required

In the case of a power outage, not every employee will be affected the same way. Just because the office loses electricity doesn’t mean the teams in different towns should stop working. However, if the server or VPN solely exists on-site, productivity is contingent on the office.

With Viirtue’s geo-redundant network (rebranded as your own when you white label), you can offer file sharing and communication tools that never experience a service outage. While the local data center may be down, another will take over in its place.

Battery back-ups and generators

If the business does require VPN and on-site servers, you can advise on battery back-ups and generators to keep the site up and running during a disaster. Small offices and family businesses may not realize they should have battery backups to protect their equipment from power surges, and this allows you to build your reputation as a trusted technology resource.

Ensure Efficient Remote Work

No business owner needs convincing about the benefits of a remote work plan. Even if they have an “essential business,” employees still need to work from home more often than ever. Demonstrate the usefulness of the full suite of UCaaS tools available to keep their employees efficient even away from the office. 

Solutions for Retail

Retail businesses require a few different features during disasters since they typically need to keep the store open during an outage, and employees don’t work from home.

Phone number forwarding

Even with a geo-redundant network, sometimes the internet at the building is unavailable for an extended period due to fallen trees and telephone poles. This is when automatic call-forwarding comes in. When someone calls the business phone number, emergency call forwarding allows it to ring on a designated cell phone only when there’s an on-site outage.

Some business owners may not even know this setting exists in their dashboard. Of course, they can also use an app to receive phone calls just like they would on the business phone, but every part-time employee may not want another app on their phones.

Offline POS Options

If you serve several retail businesses, you may want to learn more about POS systems and how they work offline. Many platforms store the information and upload sales data once back online, but will require battery backups to turn on during a power outage. 

The more solutions you offer to your clients, the more they’ll trust you and refer you to others.

Become an All-In-One Provider

While 2020 may seem like only one disaster after another, the opportunity for technology providers has only grown. Business owners know they need better solutions for disaster preparedness, and you can help them feel confident in their choices.

With UCaaS under your own brand, you become the only person they need to call when a problem arises.