Planning your standby power for business continuity

The type of business you have, will govern the type and level of protection necessary to preserve not only the smooth running, but also the reputation and profitability of your company. A Power Continuity Plan will reflect the nature of your business. For those companies where a power loss is no more than an inconvenience, it is common practice to install an uninterruptible power supply with a runtime sufficient to allow an orderly backup and shutdown of computers and servers. For other companies, such as Data Centers and financial services organizations, where any downtime impacts severely on company reputation and profits, any loss of power will have severe implications. As a starting point, you'll probably find it beneficial to evaluate the risks that your business could face should different systems fail through either electrical instability affecting the power supply or a total loss of power. Classifying your equipment Looked at from a business need perspective, it becomes clear that different systems require different levels of power protection. This will allow you to categories each piece of equipment according to the power protection that it requires. Critical systems are those that cannot be allowed to fail. They must be kept operational for as long as possible, if not indefinitely. If the equipment was not designed to withstand power breaks of more than 4 or 5 milliseconds, it will certainly require an uninterruptible power supply (UPS). The UPS will condition incoming power and protect against relatively short periods of power loss. Extended periods will be covered by stored energy (typically additional UPS batteries) or locally generated energy (a diesel generator or fuel cell). 'Critical' systems require both UPS and generator Standby Power "Sensitive" systems comprise electronic equipment which require a "clean" shutdown and cannot withstand power fluctuations or the delay in starting up a generator. They require a UPS to provide power to the equipment whist it shuts-down cleanly and, if required, completes a backup. 'Sensitive' systems require UPS Standby Power "Essential" systems are those that must be supplied with power in the event of a power failure, but can withstand a short power interruption. This can be, depending on the type and size of the generator, a delay of between 15 to 30 seconds before the generator starts to support the electrical systems. There are other alternative sources of power, but a diesel generator is the most common. 'Essential' systems require generator Standby Power "Other" electrical loads are those that can be allowed to fail and, in doing so, will not compromise critical systems, the health and safety of staff or customers, and will not damage the equipment in any way. 'Other' systems may not require any Standby For further information on your IT system's power requirements then it is worth visiting upssystems. uk which explains power requirements in more detail.

Seven ways to enhance organizational culture

: As a young employee I was transferred to work in an office tower in downtown San Francisco. I wasn’t the only person to arrive in this new office space – the group had changed significantly due to reorganization and many of us were working together for the first time. My boss, the Marketing Manager, asked me to help him with some unusual projects. First, I organized an ugly tie contest. Next, we created a puzzle where everyone told me their fantasy identity (who they would be if they could be anyone) and I created a quiz. People had several days to try to figure out who was who. This culminated in a party and the revealing of all the secret identities (and prizes for those who had done the best guessing). Along with many other events, we eventually instituted the first casual Friday in this company (hey, this was 1987). At the time I knew what was happening and why it was important to the development of the culture in this organization. But I didn’t understand it the way I do now. . . For a whole variety of reasons, organizational culture is important to the health or viability of any organization. It is one thing to know something is important. It is another thing entirely to know what to do about it. This article will give you some specific things you can do to act on the importance of your organizational culture. Get help. Wherever you sit in the organizational structure or hierarchy you can impact organizational culture in a positive (or negative – but why would you want to do that?) way. Admittedly, if you are in a position of leadership, it might be easier, but we can all have an impact. But we can’t do it alone. Form a team of like minded, interested and enthusiastic people, and get them on board with developing and enhancing your culture. Get a vision. Get your team to discuss the current culture.

Define the parts of the culture that are already great and need to be supported. And honestly determine where the culture could use some polishing. Then create a vision of the culture you want to create, taking into account the entire current picture – the warts and the beauty marks. Get strategic. Your team will recognize that this is important – you’ve picked people who already understand that and you have developed a deeper understanding as you created a vision of a desired future culture. Help everyone understand - the team and organizational leadership – that this isn’t a band-aid, quick fix; but an ongoing, strategic intention to build a more attractive culture that fits the needs of the organization.

Get people excited. Chances are your culture team will be excited. If not, get them excited! Help the team recognize that not everyone else in the organization is going to think that these efforts are worthwhile immediately. Remember that enthusiasm is contagious. Do what you can to keep the enthusiasm of your team high.

If their excitement falters, remind them of the vision they created to re-invigorate them. Get a champion. That person may be you, or it may be someone else on the team. In my case, I took on an alter ego of the “phun phantom.” While a moniker might not be necessary, a point person, whether anonymous or not, is important. Culture change is like any other change – it requires champions.

The champion needs to be someone who is passionate about creating the new culture. As in my case, this might be a perfect role for a young energetic person, but don’t assign the role. The best champions will rise up and “select” themselves. Get started. Yes, I have listed the first five suggestions in a chronological order.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t so something today, as soon as you finish reading this article or right now. You already know some things that need to change in your culture, so role model one of them starting immediately. Maybe your first step is to invite a couple people to lunch that you think might want to be on your team. Whatever your first step is – do it. Get momentum on your side. Any change will have a greater chance of success with momentum. Don’t form your team today if you don’t think you’ll be able to get them going quickly.

Don’t think of this something that can be done in a couple of weeks. A single event that you hope will permanently change the culture - won’t. In fact, it might have the opposite effect entirely. Get started but be committed to building momentum and staying with it. It will be one of the most rewarding efforts you and your team will ever engage in. I haven’t given you specific cultural events to try. Why? Because I don’t know what kind of changes you want to create. In my case we were trying to create higher levels of camaraderie and more fun in the workplace. You may have that and may want to enhance your culture in completely different ways. You and your team will figure out what to do. This list is meant to help you figure those things out for yourselves. These seven things are by no means a complete list – but they are a great place to start. And getting started is the most important next step of all.

Why incorporate your business

Entrepreneurs embark on costly business ventures without first looking into the form of business that would be most suitable for them given their business experience and financial capability. Deciding on what legal form your venture is going to take will spell the difference when you experience difficulty in your business later on. A businessman can choose from different business forms including sole or single proprietorship, partnership or a corporation. Each of these legal forms has their own advantages and disadvantages and a businessman should be well aware of their implications on his business venture. Sole proprietorship is the easiest business venture to put up because you only have yourself to disagree with. This means you can go ahead with whatever plans you have and you can implement them anytime. It means that when your venture succeeds then you will reap all the financial rewards of your business. The sad fact is that this can also be a disadvantage since it can also mean that you will shoulder all the losses if the business fails. A partnership will do well for business ventures that require more capital and more skills and expertise. You and your partner can concentrate on the different aspects of the business depending on your skills and talents. A partnership form of business means both you and your partner get to share your financial earnings and losses. However, there could be a problem if the business acquires debts because your creditors can run even after your personal money and not just after the capital infused into the business. The most ideal, although complicated, type of doing business is the corporation. Incorporating your business would mean bringing in other people to the business. This would mean no decision can be reached without the agreement of the majority of the Board of Directors. The good thing about a corporation is the availability of vast financial resources for the business. A corporation is a distinct legal entity from its incorporators and shareholders so that in case the business incurs debts, the share or stockholders will only answer for the debts depending on the shares they have in the corporation. This is called the theory of limited liability. The creditors will no longer have any right to seek payment from the personal finances of the stockholders. A business can start as a sole proprietorship but the owner can chose to incorporate the business later as it grows. True, there are more documentation requirements for incorporating a business but the advantages of incorporating a business far outweigh the disadvantages.