On a regular basis, businesses have to handle and respond to several different types of disaster.  Fire, hurricane, tornado, earthquake and flood are the most commonly recognized disasters.  Other less commonly considered disasters (but no less disruptive) are inclement weather, cable cuts, disgruntled or careless employees and power outages.

When a business is struck by one or more of these disasters, the effects can be wide ranging.  If the business can not respond to their needs, customers seek out other solutions including competitors.  Employee productivity is reduced when they cannot get to work.  Revenues suffer with lost customers and reduced employee productivity.  Further, the business may be physically displaced and key business resources such as the telecommunications systems, data networks and vendors may be unavailable.

Although proper disaster planning involves many aspects of the business, one primary component is the communications system.  Staying in contact with employees, customers and the general public can help mitigate the damage caused by the disaster.  A key strategy for a robust, disaster resistant communications system is the use of a Hosted PBX system.  Hosted PBX services (also commonly referred as Hosted VoIP services and Virtual PBXs) house the equivalent of the telephone system central equipment and call processing at the VoIP Provider’s Point of Presence (POP).

Hosted PBX services are a superior disaster resistant strategy for the communication system for several reasons.  The POP is located in a hardened facility that is resistant to disasters.  Call processing happens in the POP and away from the main business.  This means that calls are handled regardless of what is transpiring at the main building.  Since most Hosted PBX services use the Internet for voice delivery, phones can be rapidly deployed wherever broadband Internet access exists.  In addition, some services accommodate redundant Internet connections for automatic failover.

Because they contain core call processing in a hardened facility and they use the flexibility of the Internet to deliver their service, Hosted PBX services present a wide range of options in a disaster.  These options include:

1.  Automatically re-routing calls to homes, mobile phones and other offices

2.  Forwarding inbound calls to any 10 digit telephone number

3.  Turning employees into telecommuters

4.  Assembling a temporary office anywhere the telephones can be plugged into a broadband connection

5.  Recording special announcements and instructions for callers

6.  And finally, doing nothing and allowing the normal automated attendants and voicemail systems to process the calls

With many of these available options to help the business stay in touch with the public, outside callers may have no idea that disaster has struck.

How a business responds to a disaster is dependant on how well they have planned to keep their core functions operational in a catastrophic event.  Companies that are prepared to remain operational in a disaster become a resource during the disaster rather than a victim.  Processing and handling calls is a vital function to the performance of most businesses.  Hosted PBX services are a robust, disaster resistant communications system that can handle calls and help a business survive a disaster.