Skip to main content
SolarWinds MSP
  • Login
  • Support
  • Partnerships
    • Partnerships Overview
    • Solution Provider Program
    • Technology Alliance Program
    • Distributor Program
SolarWinds MSP
  • Products
    • SolarWinds N-central Automate what you need. Tackle complex networks. Try this remote monitoring and management solution built to help maximize efficiency and scale.
    • SolarWinds RMM Start fast. Grow at your own pace. Try this powerful but simple remote monitoring and management solution.
    • SolarWinds EDR Defend against ransomware, zero-day attacks, and evolving online threats with Endpoint Detection and Response
    • SolarWinds Backup Manage data protection for servers, workstations applications, documents and Microsoft 365 from one SaaS dashboard.
    • Mail Protection & Archiving Protect users from email threats and downtime.
    • Password Management Easily adopt and demonstrate best practice password and documentation management workflows.
      • Passportal Demo
    • PSA & Ticketing Manage ticketing, reporting, and billing to increase helpdesk efficiency.
    • Remote Support Help support customers and their devices with remote support tools designed to be fast and powerful.
  • Solutions

    I'm looking for...

    • Security Solutions
    • Monitoring Solutions
    • Efficiency Solutions
  • Resources
    • Blog
    • Webcasts & Events
    • Ask the N-central Experts
    • Daily Live Demos
    • RMM Foundations Training
    • Upcoming Events
    • Upcoming Webcasts
    • Resource Center
    • COVID-19 Resources
    • Resource Library
      • Case Studies
      • Product Information
      • eBooks
      • White Papers
      • Infographics
    • SolarWinds MSP Free Tools
    • GDPR Resource Center
    • Security Resource Center
    • MSP Institute Webinar Series
    • MSP Advice Project
  • About
    • Contact
    • Customer Success
    • Worldwide sales and support
    • Careers
    • Awards and Recognition
    • Get A Quote
    • Newsroom
      • Press Releases
      • In The News
      • Media Contacts
      • COVID-19 Response
    • Leadership Team
    • Legal
      • Cookie Policy
      • Privacy Notice
      • Software Services Agreement
      • Terms of Use
      • Backup Fair Use Policy
    • Security
      • SolarWinds Security Statement
      • Vendor Data Protection Requirements
    • Support
  • IT Departments
  • Contact Sales
    • Get A Quote
    • General Inquiry
  • TRY NOW
    • SolarWinds RMM
    • SolarWinds Backup
    • MSP Manager
    • SolarWinds Passportal
    • SolarWinds N-central
    • SolarWinds Mail Assure
    • SolarWinds Risk Intelligence
    • SolarWinds Take Control
  • Request a Quote
  • Try Now
    • SolarWinds RMM
    • SolarWinds N-central
    • SolarWinds Backup
    • MSP Manager
    • SolarWinds Mail Assure
    • SolarWinds Passportal
    • SolarWinds Risk Intelligence
    • SolarWinds Take Control
Request quote
Filter Blogs
  • Filter by:
  • MSP Business
    • Automation
    • Backup & Disaster Recovery
    • Security-series
    • Best Practices
    • Business
    • Business Growth
    • Business Risk
    • Cloud Computing
    • Customer Service
    • Cybersecurity
    • Cybersecurity Awareness Month
    • Data
    • GDPR
    • Internet of Things
    • IT Support
    • ITSM
    • LOGICcards
    • Machine Learning
    • Mail
    • Managed Services
    • Marketing
    • Mobile
    • Networking
    • Operations
    • Podcast
    • Product
    • PSA
    • Remote Management
    • Research & Trends
    • Risk Intelligence
    • Security
    • Security Vlog
    • Service Desk
    • Services & Support
    • The Head Nerds
    • Tips & Advice
    • Training
Home Blog MSP Business Are your clients ready for a major weather event?
MSP Business

Are your clients ready for a major weather event?

By Ben Taylor
1 August, 2014

Whether you’re a climate change believer or a doubter, you couldn’t deny that there has been a significant rise in tragic environmental events in recent years. Hurricane Katrina and “Super Storm” Sandy have both caused devastation, and they only account for the US East Coast. There have also been similar disasters elsewhere in the world, including huge floods in the UK last winter.

Stormy-Weather

This upturn in extreme weather has seen FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency) amending their flood zone maps, and significantly increasing the price of insurance against flooding, eroding long-present subsidies for businesses in areas considered at risk.

While it may seem callous to sidestep the (sometimes enormous) human impact of these weather events, MSPs also have think about the technical practicalities. No company develops a disaster recovery plan hoping that they will get to try it out in a real-life situation, but the frequency of these disasters goes to highlight the importance of these plans.

Here are a few pointers to help you prepare your clients for the worst:

  1. Make sure all your customers actually have a business continuity plan. It may seem hard to believe, but IT consultants still encounter clients in the SME space who fail to recognise the need for one.
  2. Make it very clear to all clients that you don’t consider any business continuity plan to be effective until it’s been properly tested. Testing means carrying out a full disaster “simulation” and checking that all necessary services can be restored in the desired timeframe. Only by doing this can you identify the small issues that could thwart the successful application of the plan.
  3. Consider ways in which you can use cloud services to make physical location less important. One example is using hosted Exchange email instead of something “on premise.” With hosted Exchange, nothing except occasional provider downtime should prevent your clients accessing company email. Even clients who are completely averse to moving to the cloud should consider the benefits of this. After all, it keeps an essential line of business communication open, even if a customer’s central office is destroyed.
  4. Look into providing Disaster Recovery as a service. There are myriad ways to achieve this, but the cornerstone usually involves some kind of image-based backup, and mirroring to a second geographical location. Using image technology (sometimes alongside virtualization) provides for far faster recovery times than traditional backup methods.
  5. Make sure that your customers constantly revisit their DR plans so that they evolve alongside their infrastructures. Creating a DR plan is not a one-off exercise; adding provision for new systems and software and maintaining a regular testing schedule is of paramount importance.

There’s plenty of revenue to be made in assisting with disaster recovery. The best strategy for MSPs is to develop a tested and reliable way of doing things, and to then work on selling the solution across their client base.

Are your clients ready for a major weather event? Tell us how you helped the prepare in a comment below!

You might also like...
MSP Business

What are your options when a patch goes wrong?

MSP Business

Understanding bandwidth throttling for backup

MSP Business

What's in your toolbox-Essential tools for MSPs and IT technicians

MSP Business

How to Change Backup Software

MSP Business

Creating a Checklist for Major Scheduled Network Maintenance

MSP Business

Mobile access: Why it's as important for you as it is for your customers

Want to stay up to date?

Get the latest MSP tips, tricks, and ideas sent to your inbox each week.

Loading form....

If the form does not load in a few seconds, it is probably because your browser is using Tracking Protection. This is either an Ad Blocker plug-in or your browser is in private mode. Please allow tracking on this page to request a subscription.

Note: Firefox users may see a shield icon to the left of the URL in the address bar. Click on this to disable tracking protection for this session/site

Recent Posts
  • What the Head Nerds Were Up to in 2020
  • RMM and PSA Tools: How to Make the Most of Both
  • How to Empower an IT Help Desk Team for Success
  • Six Tips That Will Make Managing Your MSP Company Easier
  • January 2021 Patch Tuesday: One Actively Exploited Vulnerability and a Few Likely to Be
Categories:
  • Security (230)
  • Tips & Advice (122)
  • Best Practices (94)
  • Managed Services (86)
  • Backup & Disaster Recovery (83)
  • The Head Nerds (75)
  • Business Growth (75)
  • IT Support (42)
  • Business (39)
  • Automation (37)
  • Cybersecurity (37)
  • Operations (34)
  • Mail (33)
  • Remote Management (28)
  • ITSM (25)
  • Data (21)
  • Cloud Computing (21)
  • Networking (21)
  • Marketing (14)
  • PSA (11)
  • Product (11)
  • Services & Support (5)
  • Service Desk (5)
  • Mobile (4)
  • Risk Intelligence (4)
  • Internet of Things (3)
  • Customer Service (3)
  • GDPR (2)
  • Research & Trends (2)
  • Training (2)
  • Business Risk (1)
  • LOGICcards (1)
Show moreless
SolarWinds MSP

Products
  • SolarWinds RMM
  • SolarWinds N-central
  • SolarWinds Backup
  • SolarWinds EDR
  • SolarWinds MSP Manager
  • SolarWinds Mail Assure
  • SolarWinds Risk Intelligence
  • SolarWinds Take Control
  • SolarWinds Passportal
  • All Products Use Cases
Solutions
  • Security Solutions
  • Monitoring Solutions
  • Efficiency Solutions
  • Identify which RMM solution is right for me
  • Drive Efficiency with Automation
  • Manage my MSP Business More Efficiently
  • Manage my IT Department More Efficiently
  • Layered Security
  • Cross-Platform Support
  • Data-Driven Insights
About
  • About Us
  • Careers
  • Newsroom
  • Leadership Team
  • Upcoming Events
  • Subscription Preferences
  • SolarWinds
  • SolarWinds Trust Center
  • COVID-19 Response
Support
  • SolarWinds RMM
  • Solarwinds N-central
  • SolarWinds Backup
  • SolarWinds Mail Assure
  • SolarWinds Take Control
  • SolarWinds MSP Manager
  • Solarwinds Risk Intelligence
  • Solarwinds Threat Monitor
  • SolarWinds Passportal
  • SolarWinds Take Control Downloads
  • Backup & Recovery Downloads
  • Service Status

Footer 2

  • Legal Documents
  • Privacy
  • California Privacy Rights
  • Security Information
  • Sitemap

© SolarWinds MSP Canada ULC and SolarWinds MSP UK Ltd.
All Rights Reserved.