If there’s one thing that can be learned from this week’s Hurricane Irene, it’s that every business can benefit from a disaster recovery and business continuity plan – even those not in areas that are typically prone to disasters or outages.

It’s estimated that Hurricane Irene will cost over $1 billion in damages, and more than 4 million residents were left without power for days. Based on those numbers, undoubtedly tens of thousands of businesses were also affected, and many still are without means of communication.

What was most interesting about Irene, however, was her path. She swept up the east coast, affecting areas of the northeast that typically hurricane-free, such as New York City, proving to be the worst storm to hit the city in 25 years.  Certainly many New York City businesses were caught unprepared.

Businesses affected by storms or disasters can potentially be out of communication for days, as crews scramble to clean and repair the damage. And depending on the business, that lack of communication can potentially cost thousands of dollars in lost sales.

The good news is that technology has advanced enough to ensure businesses stay connected, even in disasters or outages. With auto-failover capabilities and the intelligence of phone systems moving to the Cloud, phone calls can be automatically re-routed, and business can continue as usual from remote locations. And thanks to advancement in Unified Communications, one number can ring multiple devices, ensuring essential business calls are not lost.

If you haven’t done so already, now is a great time to speak to your current customers about their business continuity plans and help them prepare for the next potential disaster or outage.

Please feel free to share your disaster recovery success stories with us in the comments below.