Business Continuity Planning: How to Keep Your Network Running During Storms and Outages

A hurricane, major storm, or other natural disaster passes through your area. Power goes out. Internet goes down. Your business stops functioning.

Or worse: a major outage at your ISP leaves you offline for 8 hours during peak business hours. Competitors are operating normally. You're losing revenue every minute.

Or a cyberattack takes down your internet connectivity. You're not even sure if you can operate.

Most businesses have zero plan for these scenarios. They assume "it won't happen to us" or "we'll figure it out when it happens." When it does happen, the result is chaos, lost revenue, frustrated employees and customers, and damage you can't easily quantify.

Business continuity planning changes this. It's not expensive paranoia. It's smart preparation that ensures your business survives events that would otherwise be catastrophic.

Let's talk about what business continuity planning actually is, why network continuity matters, and how to build a practical plan for your business.

What Is Business Continuity Planning?

Business continuity planning is preparing for emergencies so your business can continue operating when unexpected events occur.

The goal is simple: minimize downtime, protect critical operations, preserve revenue, and ensure employee safety and communication.

Network continuity is one part of business continuity. It's ensuring that your network infrastructure, internet connectivity, and critical systems remain available even when normal conditions are disrupted.

Why Network Continuity Matters

Your network is critical infrastructure. When it fails during an emergency:

Revenue stops. If you're retail, restaurants, or customer-facing services, you can't process transactions. If you're service-based, you can't access client data or communication systems.

Employees can't work. Without internet or network access, even basic work becomes impossible. Email doesn't work. Cloud-based tools don't work. Collaboration breaks down.

Communication fails. You can't contact customers, inform them of status, or coordinate response efforts.

Safety is compromised. If you rely on internet-connected security systems, emergency communications, or safety monitoring, outage creates risk.

Recovery is harder. Without network access, recovering from the emergency takes longer.

These aren't theoretical. They happen every year to businesses that didn't plan.

Types of Disruptions to Plan For

1. Internet outages (ISP failure) Your ISP goes down. This happens more often than most businesses realize. Average US business experiences 2-3 significant internet outages per year.

Duration: Minutes to hours Frequency: Common Impact: Moderate to severe

2. Power outages Storm, accident, or infrastructure failure cuts power. This cascades into network failure because equipment needs power.

Duration: Minutes to days (depending on severity) Frequency: Common in areas with severe weather Impact: Severe

3. Natural disasters Hurricane, tornado, earthquake, flood, or other major event damages infrastructure and buildings.

Duration: Days to weeks Frequency: Depends on geography, but should be planned for if possible Impact: Catastrophic

4. Cyberattacks/ransomware Attacker disrupts your network or holds systems ransom.

Duration: Hours to days Frequency: Increasingly common Impact: Severe to catastrophic

5. Equipment failure Critical network equipment (internet router, firewall, access points) fails unexpectedly.

Duration: Hours to days Frequency: Occasional Impact: Moderate to severe

6. Building damage Fire, accident, or other event damages your building, affecting network infrastructure.

Duration: Days to weeks Frequency: Uncommon but possible Impact: Catastrophic

Components of a Network Continuity Plan

A practical business continuity plan for network includes:

1. Backup Internet Connectivity

Primary ISP down. What happens?

Solution: Secondary internet connection

  • Different provider or technology than primary (if primary is cable, secondary could be fiber or 5G)
  • Automatic failover configured so traffic switches when primary fails
  • Tested monthly to ensure it works
  • Cost: $100-$300/month additional for backup connection

How it works: You have two internet circuits from different providers. A failover device automatically switches to the backup when the primary goes down. Employees might notice a brief hiccup, but systems stay online.

Example: Primary: Cable internet from Comcast. Backup: Fiber from Verizon. If Comcast goes down, traffic automatically switches to Verizon.

2. Power Backup (UPS & Generators)

Power goes out. Your network equipment shuts down immediately.

Solution: Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) and backup generator

UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply):

  • Provides immediate backup power when primary power fails
  • Keeps equipment running for 30 minutes to several hours (depending on load and capacity)
  • Allows graceful shutdown of systems or operation during brief outages
  • Typical cost: $500-$2,000 for small business

Generator:

  • Provides extended power for days/weeks if needed
  • Requires fuel supply
  • Needs periodic testing
  • Typical cost: $5,000-$30,000 for small business

Practical approach: Small outages are handled by UPS. If outage extends beyond UPS capacity, generator kicks in (automatically or manually).

3. Data Backup and Recovery

Your network fails, but you have data backed up elsewhere. You can recover.

Solution: Offsite data backup

  • Automatic daily backups to cloud or remote location
  • Tested monthly to ensure recovery works
  • Documented recovery procedures
  • Typical cost: $50-$500/month depending on data volume

4. Remote Work Capability

Office is inaccessible or network is down. Can employees work remotely?

Solution: Remote access infrastructure

  • VPN or remote desktop access to critical systems
  • Cloud-based tools for collaboration (email, documents, communication)
  • Employee devices capable of working from home
  • Clear remote work procedures
  • Typical cost: Built into existing infrastructure or $20-$100/month if using remote access service

5. Communications Plan

During an outage, how do you communicate with employees, customers, partners?

Solution: Multi-channel communication plan

  • SMS alerts to critical staff
  • Social media status updates for customers
  • Voicemail updates on phone system
  • Website status page showing current situation
  • Pre-written templates for different scenarios
  • Designated person responsible for updates
  • Cost: Free to minimal

6. Recovery Procedures

How do you restore normal operations? This should be documented.

Solution: Recovery runbooks

  • Step-by-step procedures for different failure scenarios
  • Who's responsible for each task
  • Contact information for vendors and partners
  • Timeline for expected recovery
  • Testing schedule (quarterly at minimum)
  • Cost: Time to develop, then free

Creating Your Business Continuity Plan

Here's the practical process:

Step 1: Assess risks What types of outages are most likely in your area? What would have the worst business impact?

For a small business in an area with frequent storms: power outage risk is high, Internet outage risk is moderate, natural disaster risk is moderate.

For a business in a stable climate: power outage risk is low, Internet outage risk is moderate, cyberattack risk is high.

Step 2: Prioritize critical systems Not every system is equally critical. What must stay online?

  • For a restaurant: POS system, WiFi for customers
  • For a professional services firm: email, cloud file access, client communication
  • For retail: POS, WiFi, inventory systems

Step 3: Design redundancy for critical systems For each critical system, design backup and failover:

  • Internet: Primary + backup connection with automatic failover
  • Power: UPS + backup generator
  • Data: Offsite backup with proven recovery
  • Communication: Multiple channels to reach employees and customers

Step 4: Document and test Write procedures for each failure scenario. Test them quarterly.

Testing reveals problems before an actual emergency:

  • Does failover actually work? (Many businesses discover it doesn't when they need it)
  • How long does recovery actually take? (Often longer than expected)
  • Are procedures clear? (Employees need to know what to do)

Step 5: Update and refine As your business changes, update the plan. Add new critical systems, test new procedures.

Real-World Example: Business Continuity in Action

Company: 50-person software services firm Location: Area with occasional severe storms and winter weather

Disaster: Massive snowstorm. Power is out in large area for 8 hours during business day.

Without continuity plan:

  • Office is dark, heating is off
  • Network equipment has no power; everyone's offline
  • Employees can't work; most are sent home
  • Clients with urgent issues can't reach the company
  • 8 hours of productivity lost = $2,000+ in revenue and billable hours
  • Client relationships damaged due to unresponsiveness

With continuity plan:

  • UPS powers critical equipment and WiFi access points for 2 hours
  • Backup generator activates, providing power for days if needed
  • Employees connect via VPN from home (they have remote access setup)
  • Company uses SMS to notify employees of situation and remote work instructions
  • Website status page is updated to inform clients of status
  • Most employees are productive from home within 30 minutes
  • Lost productivity: minimal (employees working from home)
  • Client relationships: maintained (customers know what's happening)

The difference: $2,000 in revenue impact vs. negligible impact.

Cost vs. Reality

A comprehensive business continuity plan might cost $5,000-$30,000 to implement, depending on:

  • Size and complexity of business
  • Risk level (geography, industry)
  • Critical system redundancy needs

Annual maintenance and testing: $1,000-$5,000

Is this expensive? Only until you compare it to:

  • Lost revenue from 8-hour outage: $5,000-$50,000+
  • Lost productivity: $2,000-$20,000
  • Customer relationship damage: Unknown, but real
  • Emergency response costs: $1,000-$10,000

A business continuity plan pays for itself the first time you avoid a major outage.

Getting Started

If you don't have a business continuity plan, start simple:

Phase 1 (Free/Low cost):

  • Document what systems are critical
  • Create communication procedures
  • Ensure employee contact information is current
  • Test backup data recovery

Phase 2 (Moderate cost):

  • Implement internet backup connection
  • Deploy UPS for critical equipment
  • Document recovery procedures
  • Test failover systems

Phase 3 (Higher investment):

  • Implement backup generator
  • Deploy full remote work infrastructure
  • Implement advanced monitoring and disaster recovery
  • Regular testing and drills

You don't need to do everything at once. Start with critical risks and build from there.

Working With a Professional

Business continuity planning can be complex. Many businesses benefit from working with a professional to:

  • Assess specific risks for their situation
  • Design appropriate redundancy
  • Implement and test systems
  • Create documented procedures
  • Conduct regular testing and updates

At Sandbar Systems, we help businesses implement network-focused business continuity plans that ensure operations survive outages, storms, and unexpected events.

Is Your Business Continuity Prepared?

Ask yourself:

  • If internet goes down, can we operate? (If no, you have a problem)
  • If power goes out, how long until we're offline? (Should be hours, not minutes)
  • If our office becomes inaccessible, can employees work remotely? (Critical capability)
  • Do we have current backups of critical data? (Have you tested recovery?)
  • Does everyone know what to do in an outage? (Have you documented procedures?)

If you can't answer these confidently, you need a business continuity plan.

Get a free consultation. We'll evaluate your current continuity planning, identify risks specific to your business, and show you what a practical plan would look like.

Request Your Free Consultation or call us at (804) 510-9224

Don't wait for an emergency to realize you weren't prepared.