Surviving Hurricane Florence in the Cloud

As Hurricane Florence hit the Carolina coast, our Samanage team prepared for the storm as well as we could. We topped off our gas tanks, filled our coolers, and moved our most valuable belongings to the top floor of the office. But we also prepared to deliver the Samanage experience to both our employees and our customers regardless of what Florence might do to our normal routines. Luckily, technology in 2018 helps us ensure employees are safe, they have what they need, and business operations resume as normal.

Communication

Our professional community is our family, so the most important part of preparing for an event like Hurricane Florence is making sure everyone is safe and accounted for. This can be very challenging, especially if the power is out, cell phones are dead, and wifi is disabled.

Fortunately, there are a lot more ways to communicate in 2018. Ten years ago, plan A would have been a phone tree. Not only were we relying on a single form of communication, but it’s time consuming, and very difficult to respond immediately if there’s a problem. This weekend, we used a Slack message in a channel with all of our North Carolina coworkers to check in. Better yet, our Samanage team was expecting this message because we reminded them numerous times on that same Slack channel during our preparation. Our team members could post tips, emergencies, or any requests for assistance within the same channel. Luckily, we didn’t have any emergency requests this time around.

In the event that the power is down, Slack is still available through cell phone data, and if all else fails, calling or texting a status update is just as well. Now we know that if we can’t reach an employee through any of these channels, it’s time to start trying to locate them through their emergency contacts.

The other advantage that technology gives us is the ability to connect each other to helpful resources or information. All this week, we’ve shared alternative communication methods, gas stations that still had fuel, and grocery stores that still had lights, batteries, and bottled water.

Though we couldn’t stop Hurricane Florence, we felt as prepared and as connected as humanly possible!

Our professional community is our family, so the most important part of preparing for an event like Hurricane Florence is making sure everyone is safe and accounted for.

Operations

One of the advantages of working in the cloud is that it’s very difficult for a single event to disrupt our operations. That goes for both our internal processes as well as our cloud-based software solution that we support for our customers.

Years ago, when we first brought Samanage to market, we often heard security concerns from prospective clients that “the servers weren’t on our property.” Cloud computing was relatively new at that time, and the on-premise solution offered a sense (if only a sense) of personal control or responsibility. Unfortunately, situations like these can arise, and the cloud-based operation model helps ensure that services continue despite the impact of these individual events. With a multi-tenant, cloud-based service platform like Samanage, service delivery can continue unimpeded by Mother Nature’s obstacles.

Internally, our North Carolina team continued to operate from home as we closed the office for precaution. As long as there’s power in the house, or a coffee shop with an internet connection, there’s no need to postpone strategic sessions with customers, support calls, or other business functions. Our video conferencing is in the cloud. Our CRM software is in the cloud. Our internal tech support is in the cloud. We prepared all week with our technology to enable people to excel, regardless of circumstance.

Our goal for our customers is that their experience with the Samanage application and our award-winning support team will be uninterrupted by Florence or any future natural circumstance. That’s why we have team members staggered across the globe, prepared to cover for any of our locations where special circumstances occur.

We wish our home state of NC and all of our East Coast neighbors that have been impacted the best in dealing with the turmoil left from Hurricane Florence.