Verizon Small Biz Blog

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To all Verizon Small Business customers in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states, we have compiled a list of steps you should consider taking to ensure business continuity as Hurricane Sandy approaches.

Based on your feedback, the most effective service option for many business owners affected by last July’s storm and flooding was our Remote Call Forwarding feature.  This allowed business owners to reroute their calls even if they could not physically access their brick and mortar locations.  Additional tips include the following.

• Check your local emergency-readiness authorities for their recommendations and advisories about the situation in your area. 
• Develop a systematic evacuation and communications plan with family, friends and coworkers that includes what to do, who to call, where to go, and what supplies and items you will take with you.
• Ensure that all battery-powered devices are fully charged before the storm hits.
• Set up your work email and server login (when allowed) to your wireless device to stay updated with co-workers in the event of emergency business closures.
• Back up your archives and documents, including critical business data, stored on your computers.  Verizon’s Online Backup & Sharing allows any business owner to back up these important files to secure remote servers that only the user can access from anywhere with an internet connection. Learn more at http://vz.to/RFaxwR.
• Consider adding a Jetpack to your disaster survival toolkit.  A fully charged mobile hot spot can give you instant 4G LTE access.  Plus, Mobile Hotspot users can share their signal with several devices, enabling fellow disaster victims to gain access.  Visit http://vz.to/XAih5G to get started.

Verizon offers many free resources to help small businesses stay operational in an emergency.  Visit http://vz.to/RFcx8o for more tips and insights on disaster planning.  For more about disaster recovery, read this post: http://vz.to/PO9JCZ.  To sign up or access any of the services listed in this post, please visit http://vz.to/Om3nbF or call us toll free at 1-888-743-0166.

We continue to monitor the news of Hurricane Sandy closely and will be prepared to restore service to areas affected by outages as soon as it is safe to do so.

To our customers, employees, families and friends, please take all appropriate precautions to protect yourselves and be safe!