What will you do if and when technology fails you?

When you depend on technology, and it’s no longer there, do you have a backup plan?

If AT&T’s network fails and leaves your wireless phone and laptop without email and Internet capabilities, can you still be productive? This Thursday, customers in the Midwest and Southeast found out.

Also this Thursday, two telecom cables were cut on the ocean floor near Alexandria, Egypt, which left North Africa, the Middle East, and large portions of Asia without Internet access.

So how would you and your business cope without Internet access? Could your business survive if an Internet outage lasted for months due to a natural disaster or EMP attack? The more that a business becomes digital, the less likely it is that a backup plan will suffice.

I spend a good portion of my work day on the Internet. So when an ice storm hit Oklahoma this past December and left 600,000 homes without power, we were able to mobilize our offices until the Internet was restored a week and a half later. It was a backup plan, and it helped. But we still experienced a significant set back as a company. With that said, it is always good to have a plan just in case technology fails you.