VoIP shows importance as disaster recovery tool

Mother nature is making life difficult for New York-New Jersey residents and businesses. Following Hurricane Sandy last week, a small earthquake hit early on Monday and now a Nor’easter is darkening the skies. It is clear that the recovery effort still has a lot of work to do and it could be awhile before some companies are able to open their doors again.

As businesses are doing what they can to stay connected, the importance of disaster recovery plans are becoming more apparent. Some organizations, despite experiencing an office flood, are able to stay open thanks to cloud technology, VoIP systems and proper planning.

Megan Webb-Morgan, a contributor for Resource Nation, has a recent article that looks into some of the less publicized benefits of a VoIP phone system. Among the mobility and bring-your-own-device functions is the disaster recovery potential. The ability to forward phone calls to smartphones and laptops can keep businesses connected regardless of what is going on in the outside world.

“Keeping your phone system on a hosted VoIP server can protect your business in case of an emergency or disaster,” wrote Webb-Morgan. “Whether it’s struck by fire, flood, or blizzard, your business can keep functioning no matter what’s happening outside its doors.”

She went on to say that by combining a VoIP system with other disaster recovery solutions like a hosted website, email, data and cloud computing programs, a company can move its business critical tools completely digital. This lets employees work from anywhere.

A recent Infonetics Research forecast report has VoIP service spending reaching $67 billion annually by 2015 and benefits like disaster recovery are helping to expand the adoption. Companies in Ohio that are looking improve disaster recovery strategies would be wise to partner with an IT consulting firm.

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