From large Fortune 500 companies to small, sole proprietorships, each wants positive outcomes after disaster strikes: replace what is lost, make sure employees can work safely, maintain customer trust and resume operations right away. Technology, says Eddie Bruce, President of Paul Davis Restoration Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada, brings formidable tools to meet those common goals.
“Peoplepower used to be the solution. People pitched in manually after danger passed and gradually righted the business,” Bruce says. “Now, technology is the ticket. Wield it smartly before disaster hits and your company barely misses a step. Customers may never know your business took a hit because you received weather updates in real time, moved your inventory, sent your employees to work remotely and stored key data in the right place.”
Savvy companies, Bruce says, made these shrewd technological moves:
Shifted knowledge and process into the cloud: You now store and operate essential data and computer-based applications in the cloud. If infrastructure is destroyed and electronics submerged, the cloud enables seamless device switching, automated backups, continued work and expanded accessibility.
Embraced the “Internet of Things”, or IoT: You implemented IoT – in which physical objects are embedded with sensors, software or technology that transfers data - to streamline and assist. IoT helps businesses in a crisis via capabilities like machine monitoring technology or tracking high value asset locations to guard against theft or unauthorized removal. Sensors may automatically track inventory, for instance, or flag changing environmental conditions. More than seven billion connected IoT devices are in service today and pundits predict that number will be 22 billion by 2025.
Leaned into remote work solutions: You equipped employees with devices enabled for remote access and authorized them to use systems essential to their roles and responsibilities. Information technology personnel install these types of systems, establishing security, firewalls, authentication, communications and networking.
Practiced, practiced, practiced: No matter the disaster, your company’s processes, locations and habits will change temporarily. Accordingly, you practiced how your technology will operate while skies are clear and business is as usual, which helps to ensure a smooth transition when chaos hits.
And if the worst happens, call Paul Davis any hour every day of the year to get help. “Our processes and operations have also been transformed – literally everything we do is faster and better thanks to the power of technology, and we are continuously testing new methodologies and systems,” Bruce says. “We have drones and smartphones to rapidly survey and map disaster scenes. Our highly accurate moisture meters pinpoint moisture infiltration. In a disaster situation, technology could save us all.”