Storm season is officially here in Florida — and if you haven’t taken steps to protect your business technology yet, now is the time to act.
Every year, businesses across Manatee and Sarasota County experience costly and preventable technology damage caused by hurricanes, tropical storms, and severe weather events. Power surges can fry servers and workstations in an instant. Flooding can destroy hardware that took years to build. And data loss from an unprotected system can set a business back months — sometimes permanently.
The good news? A few minutes of preparation now can prevent thousands of dollars in damage and help you avoid devastating data loss.
At ODI Consulting, we work with local businesses year-round to keep their technology running smoothly. During storm season, that means helping our clients prepare before the storm even forms. Here is exactly what we recommend every business owner do before the next storm threatens our area.
1. Verify All Critical Equipment Is Protected by Surge Protectors
This is one of the most overlooked, yet most important, steps in storm preparedness. A lightning strike nearby — even without a direct hit to your building — can send a powerful surge through your electrical lines that will instantly destroy computers, servers, printers, and other electronics.
Not all surge protectors are created equal. A cheap power strip from a big-box store may offer very little actual surge protection. Look for surge protectors with a high joule rating (at least 1,000–2,000 joules) and make sure every critical piece of equipment is plugged into one — including your modem, router, network switches, and workstations.
Walk through your office right now and check. If something is plugged directly into a wall outlet with no surge protection, that is a risk you cannot afford to take during storm season.
2. Check Your Battery Backups (UPS Units) — They May Be Overdue for Replacement
A UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) does two things that are critical during a storm: it protects against power surges, and it gives your team enough time to properly shut down equipment during a sudden outage rather than suffering an abrupt power cut.
However, UPS batteries degrade over time. If your battery backup units are more than a few years old, the internal battery has very likely lost most of its capacity — meaning it may give you only seconds of backup power instead of the several minutes you actually need.
Now is the time to test your UPS units. Many models have a self-test button or accompanying software that reports battery health. If yours are aging, invest in replacements before storm season is in full swing. This is a small cost compared to the price of corrupted data or damaged hardware.
3. Shut Down and Unplug All Electronics 12–24 Hours Before Impact
When a tropical storm or hurricane is forecast for our area, do not wait until the storm is at your doorstep. Plan ahead and begin shutting down and unplugging all computers, network gear, printers, and electronics at least 12 to 24 hours before the storm is expected to make impact.
This is important for two reasons. First, even with surge protectors in place, an extreme surge from a direct lightning strike can overwhelm most consumer-grade protection. Physically unplugging devices removes that risk entirely. Second, a proper, orderly shutdown protects your data — hard drives that are abruptly powered off during a read/write operation can suffer corruption or even physical damage.
Create a simple storm shutdown checklist for your team so that this process is fast and nothing gets missed. Include workstations, monitors, printers, network switches, routers, modems, and any servers or NAS devices.
4. Move Equipment Up Off the Floor to Prevent Flood Damage
Flooding is a serious and very real risk in our region during storm season, even in areas that are not directly in a storm’s path. Heavy rainfall, storm surge, and overwhelmed drainage systems can push water into buildings quickly.
Take a look around your office. Are any computers, external hard drives, servers, or networking equipment sitting on the floor? If so, move them up onto desks, shelves, or elevated surfaces before the storm arrives.
This is a free, five-minute step that could save you from replacing thousands of dollars in hardware. Do not overlook it simply because your building has never flooded before — storm conditions can create flooding in unexpected places.
5. Cover Equipment with Plastic Bags or Sheeting — But Only When Powered Off
Even equipment stored on elevated surfaces can be damaged by roof leaks, broken windows, or water intrusion from walls during a severe storm. A practical and inexpensive precaution is to cover your equipment with plastic bags or plastic sheeting after it has been properly shut down and unplugged.
Important: Never cover equipment that is still powered on. Electronics generate heat and need airflow; covering a running device can cause it to overheat and may create a fire hazard. Only apply plastic covers after everything has been shut down, unplugged, and cooled.
Large zip-lock bags work well for keyboards and smaller peripherals. Heavy-duty garbage bags or painter’s plastic sheeting can be draped over tower computers, monitors, and printers. Keep a small supply on hand in your office ahead of storm season.
Speaking of Data Loss — Are Your Backups Actually Solid?
All of the steps above will help protect your physical hardware. But what about your data?
Hardware can be replaced. Your business data — your client records, financial files, project documents, emails, and operational systems — often cannot be recreated once it is gone. And yet, many businesses in our area are running on backup systems that have not been properly tested in months or even years.
Do you know for certain that your backups are current? Do you know how long it would take to restore your systems if your server or primary workstation was destroyed in a storm? Have you ever actually tested a restore from your backup?
If you are unsure about any of those answers, that is a problem — and it is one that ODI Consulting can help you solve before storm season costs you everything.
We can review your current backup setup, identify gaps, test your restore process, and implement cloud-based and local backup solutions that ensure your data is protected no matter what the storm brings. For many of our clients, this single conversation has been the most valuable thing they’ve done all year.
Don’t Wait — Prepare Your Business Technology Today
Storm season moves fast in Florida. A storm can go from a tropical disturbance to a category 3 hurricane in a matter of days. By the time a warning is issued for our area, it is often too late to purchase supplies, get technicians on-site, or reconfigure your systems.
The businesses that come through storm season without major technology disruptions are the ones that prepared in advance — quietly, methodically, and before the panic set in.
Take these five steps this week:
- Verify surge protection on all critical equipment
- Test or replace aging UPS battery backup units
- Create and practice a storm shutdown checklist
- Elevate all floor-level equipment
- Gather plastic covers and store them in your office
And if you have any doubts about the security of your data backups, call ODI Consulting today. We serve businesses throughout Manatee and Sarasota County and we are here to help you stay protected, prepared, and running — no matter what storm season throws at Florida this year.
📞 941-745-9560
🌐 www.odiconsulting.com
