Businesses Face Critical Downtime This Holiday Season Without Environment Monitoring In Place

Too many organizations fail to plan for environmental-related downtime during the holiday season when online traffic may be higher while staffing levels may be lower due to vacations, extreme weather, or seasonal illnesses

WARREN, R.I. - Dec. 14, 2022 - PRLog -- As the holidays approach, it is critical that organizations of all types and sizes examine their business continuity plans to ensure they are properly monitoring their environment for any factors that could cause outages, downtime, or facility damage while their staffing levels are lower.

30% of the downtime all organizations will face are due to environmental factors such as high heat from broken HVAC units, unexpected power loss, water leaks from broken pipes or structural issues, and so much more. Even in the most optimal of situations, it's not possible for staff members to have eyes on every nook and cranny in their facility. During the holiday season, staffing levels are usually much lower than normal due to pre-planned vacation, employee illness, or inclement weather that prevents travel. According to Security Week, staffing levels can drop as much as 50% during the holiday season, leaving organizations and facilities far more susceptible to downtime caused by unexpected or unseen environmental issues.

The NOAA is predicting both wetter than average and colder than average patterns for large regions in the United States. These patterns can lead to inclement weather including heavy snow, ice, and high winds – all factors that can damage the exterior of facilities and cause leaks internally, while also causing unexpected and prolonged power outages in conditions that may prevent staff from travelling to the office to respond. In the event power is lost, it's critical to know the exact timing to help mitigate potential product damage or loss. Internal leaks can not only cause damage, they can also pose severe health risks to employees.

The cost of downtime is increasing as well. A recent survey by Uptime Institute shows that outage costs have increased nearly 20% since 2019 due to factors such as inflation and the cost of labor and replacement parts. Organizations not only stand to lose crucial revenue when they experience an outage, the costs to recover are higher than ever before.

Organizations should take time to review and test their business continuity as well as disaster recovery plans as we approach the holiday season. This will help to ensure policies are both up to date as well as properly implemented should a potential outage situation arise.  Additionally, organizations should review their outage notifications to ensure that any alerts triggered by problems detected in their facilities are sent to the appropriate staff who can respond immediately. Environmental monitors and sensors should be checked to ensure they are connected properly, and inspected for cleanliness to ensure correct readings and the ability to alert as soon as a problem is discovered.

When organizations take the time to review their business continuity plans while verifying their monitoring equipment, they drastically reduce the risk of costly downtime when their organization is most vulnerable to outages during the holiday season. If environment monitoring is not currently implemented as part of the business continuity or disaster recovery plans, there is still time to install and configure monitors and sensors to ensure full facility coverage and protection both now and into 2023 and beyond.

About AVTECH

AVTECH Software (AVTECH), a private corporation founded in 1988, is a computer hardware and software developer and manufacturer based in Warren, RI. AVTECH's Room Alert products are made in the USA and proactively monitor critical facilities and assets for conditions such as temperature, humidity, power, flood / water leakage, smoke / fire, air flow, room entry, motion, cameras and more. Room Alert is in use in over 185 countries and can be found in over 80% of the Fortune 1000, most state and federal agencies, and all branches of the US military. Room Alert protects people, property, and productivity to provide Peace of Mind. For more information please visit AVTECH.com.

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