The modern world is the electrical world. We live powered lives – our rides are powered, entertainment is powered, we read on powered devices, and the vast majority of our goods come from modern factories. Those factories rely on computers, lighting systems, manufacturing equipment, and a range of other electrically-powered machines or devices.
Without electricity, our lives and our businesses would regress dramatically. When modern businesses suffer power outages, the effects are immediate and often long-lasting.
1. Lost Revenue
No power means no production or no sales; any downtime is potential revenue lost. Depending on when a power outage occurs, those losses may be slight, or they could be positively devastating.
Power outages don’t have to be limited to heavy production equipment or machinery. Computer servers can be especially costly when they crash due to power outages. According to a 2020 survey, 25% of respondents worldwide reported the average hourly downtime cost of their servers to be between 301,000 and 400,000 U.S. dollars.
2. Lost Customers
In the event of a power outage, servers and sites may go down. Any potential customers looking for your business might turn elsewhere. When your customers are unable to access your website or service, there may be no other way for them to purchase your products.
Moreover, even a one-time power outage incident could negatively affect how customers perceive your business. This may lead to a damaged reputation that can impact your revenue in the long term. Marketing efforts to amend your reputation and gain back lost customers can be quite costly.
3. Decreased Employee Productivity
Inoperable equipment and crashed communication networks are just two of the ways power outages lower employee productivity. The vast majority of modern workers can’t do their jobs without power; every time a power outage hits, they’re idle until the lights come back on.
4. Unturned Inventory
Inventory turnover is how many times a business’s inventory is sold or replaced during a set period of time. Any downtime without sales due to a power outage interrupts your inventory turnover. In the best-case scenario, that leads to lower revenue and sales; in the worst-case, it can lead to spoiled or ruined inventory as well as lost revenue.
5. Equipment Damage
Power outages have the potential to damage expensive equipment. Often, the damage comes not when the power goes out, but when it comes back online with an accompanying power surge. That threat can be mitigated with a surge protector or alternate power supply, but any power outage still carries the risk of equipment damage. In the case of lost equipment, the added cost of repairing or replacing equipment is another setback for your business.
6. Corrupted Computer Data
Most businesses rely on computers and electronic data storage to operate smoothly. There’s a high chance of data loss when a power outage occurs because computers and operating systems are forced to shut down suddenly. This interrupts any automatic data-saving processes, and any files you were working on could get corrupted or lost.
Regular power outages also carry the possibility of damaging your hard drive, shortening its service life.
How to Prevent the Negative Effects of Power Outages on
Businesses
There’s no single way to prevent power interruptions, so most businesses rely on some sort of backup power supply system. Most often, this takes the form of fuel-powered generators. To keep those generators going and your business up and running, consider investing in a good emergency fuel supply company that offers specialized fuel provision even in the middle of emergencies.
Precautions your business can take to be prepared for short-term and long-term power outages:
- Hiring a service like Specialty Fuel Services (SFS) to develop a business continuity plan in case of emergencies or national disasters.
- Implement emergency response training for your employees.
- Invest in a backup generator.
Wrap Up
From data centers and medical facilities to financial corporations and retail outlets, a variety of industries can suffer in case of a power outage. With a proper business continuity plan, you can save your business from the negative effects of power outages.