Power outages are quite common nowadays – it could be because of a lightning strike, a construction worker accidentally cutting through up a power cable or even as a result of floods or high winds.
For hire businesses that are unprepared, a power outage can present a nightmare scenario. The sudden shutdown of rental systems can cause major operational failures, and if the data within the systems isn't protected by off-site backups, a company could potentially lose a vast amount of valuable data collected over many years. Any well-prepared hire business shouldn't have to fear this kind of potential disaster, however, and there are some potential options to offer the protection needed.
On-premise Protection
Many rental businesses rely on an equipment rental system in which software is licensed and run ‘on-premise’. While there are some advantages to this traditional practice, there some disadvantages involved in the case of power outages. As your company grows, it’s wise to make sure you have an Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS) system in place to protect your equipment rental software and other systems in use to retain continuity in your rental business.
UPS systems not only allow you to run without power for a certain time period, they also prevent spikes in the power supply from disrupting your business. While the continuous run time provided is short, it's generally long enough to properly shut down a system or connect an external, temporary generator through a generator point. The installation of such a generator point is one to take into consideration.
Yet even if you have backup power in the form of a generator, when did you last test it? Without testing these types of preventative measures at regular intervals, your company is working under false assumptions that it will spring into action when needed. Any emergency or backup system - in any circumstance, not only business - must be regularly tested and inspected for reliability. Otherwise Murphy's Law will surely come into play when the need for them arises. This poor practice essentially makes the cost of the backup system a poor investment from the start.
Protection in the Cloud
The alternative to licensing and maintaining your systems ‘on-premise’ is to migrate to a cloud-based alternative, which is becoming increasingly popular with many hire businesses for a wide variety of reasons. With this option, your equipment rental software is hosted and managed off-site by companies with a dedicated environment designed to protect your data. In the event of an outage, once you have found an alternative temporary location that has both power and an internet connection, your connectivity to your rental system is instantly restored. This means that your cloud rental software solution itself and any related data will be 100% protected with guaranteed uptime, eliminating any fear of continuity issues. A cloud hire software solution is also attractive to many rental businesses which have minimal IT resources, require low start-up costs, or are planning for rapid expansion and therefore need maximum flexibility and scalability.
MCS supplies software both on-premise and in the cloud for businesses of any size. Our MCS cloud rental software requires no capital outlay. Subscription fees are paid on a monthly basis without the need to purchase software licenses or hardware outright and includes all the support you will need.
For more information about our cloud rental software, please download our new concise guide 'Seven benefits of choosing Cloud Rental Software' that explains various measures you can take to protect your business and be health and safety compliant. Click to download it here or click the thumbnail image below.
For more information about hire management software solutions from MCS, please call +44(0)1628 828000, email moreinfo@mcs.co.uk or visit www.mcs.co.uk