Cómo mantener los negocios pequeños y medianos abiertos, incluso sin electricidad

When severe storms disrupt primary internet and electric connections, wireless battery-powered backup can kick in automatically, ensuring that business phone and point-of-sale systems remain operational.

Internet outages are bad news for small and medium businesses. Point-of-sale systems won't work when connections fail, meaning transactions can't go through and revenue is lost until service is restored. And, as we know from the news, the situation is only getting worse with the increasing frequency of intense storms that tear down lines.

SMBs know they can ill afford downtime because their tight operating margins limit their tolerance for lost revenue. Those same restrictions place it beyond their means to hire in-house technical know-how and build infrastructure that could keep them up and running.

It's a serious financial issue that needs to be confronted. Internet downtime that freezes retail businesses exacts a hefty toll. A store with annual revenue of $250,000 that's open eight hours a day, six days a week, suffers an average loss of about $100 every hour if it cannot process in-store and online purchases. That's not counting the cost of recovery and paying employees for idle time.

In addition to hurting revenue, these outages frustrate customers and damage reputation, to say nothing of the stress they bring.

Wireless backup offers a solution

Fortunately for shops and restaurants that don’t want these interruptions to stop them from serving customers, there is a good remedy: Optimum Business wireless backup.

The obvious advantage is wireless access doesn't rely on a cable attached to the building. Wireless networks operate over a separate cellular infrastructure that can survive when wired connections don't. Electrical service faces a similar risk, but that's something backup providers can deal with by installing equipment that has its own battery-based power supply.

The backup gear inside the building kicks in automatically when primary services die and shut down again when they return, so shop owners need not intervene. And for cost-conscious SMBs, the price of these services can be quite small when compared to the potential losses.

Optimum Business Offers Business Connection Backup

One such service, Business Connection Backup from Optimum Business, includes a failover router at customer sites with an integrated power supply that supports eight hours of battery-powered uptime.

The router connects to multiple cellular providers and automatically chooses the strongest signal. It can maintain an internet link for up to six wired or WiFi devices that are deemed most important, such as the phone and PoS equipment. So, while a café may not be able to provide WiFi service to all its customers, it could still handle credit card payments and online shoppers.

At about $1.00 a day, it’s relatively inexpensive vs. the hourly cost of inability to process online and in-store purchases.

Generally speaking, wireless internet backup can be an effective and reliable service that relieves the burdens of downtime when internet connections fail by helping owners run their businesses efficiently and keeping customers happy. And with the daunting hourly cost of outages that shut down business altogether, backup is a practical insurance policy. And like any good insurance policy, it can bring peace of mind.

To learn more about how to protect your business from power or internet disruptions, Contáctenos hoy.