The mass transit statistics into New York City are staggering. 1,500,000 people get to their jobs in Manhattan via car, subway, train, and bus. A major disaster like Sandy wiped out each and every one of those options for at least a few days and in many cases, for months.
Worse yet, power was out for millions of people in NJ, NY, DE, MD, and CT. Time Magazine reports that 8,100,000 homes lost power. The numbers of businesses disrupted was unrecorded, but estimated loss of business activity was $25,000,000,000.
Power out in lower Manhattan
Communication is a key issue for municipalities and businesses
We recently completed an informative interview with Joseph G. Bruno, Mayor of the Township of Berkeley Heights, New Jersey. Municipalities all over the tri-state area will surely agree with his assessment. While funds are tight, his main desires would be to have an emergency generator for every municipal building and a backup phone system for each department. Mayor Bruno said, “Communications to our emergency management, our residents, the county and state governments, and the power companies is critical in times like these. We need to be able to receive and send communications effectively.”
Wireless phones are only part of a voice continuity plan
Across the board, the companies and municipalities we spoke with regarded wireless phones as their voice backup system. We think this is based on a perceived lack of solutions for voice continuity, until now. More on that later.
If your idea of voice continuity is wireless phones, here are some issues to consider:
- Do all your clients have every wireless number they need in your company?
- Have you distributed a list of all your company employees’ wireless numbers to all other employees? Have you updated it this month?
- Does your municipality have a plan in place for all employees and emergency responders to charge their wireless phones?
- Does the office of the Governor have every number they need in every municipality? Is it updated monthly?
You begin to see the herculean task in keeping up with all this.
The perfect time for a Voice Continuity Plan
We’re proud to present our Cooperative Communications, Inc Voice Continuity Plan at a time like this. We know it is a well-timed solution and it’s available for an incredibly low price.
And now the real pain began
On October 29th and 30th we were all overwhelmed with the shock of Sandy – the sadness of those we lost; the devastation to property; the realization our companies were losing revenue.
Beginning on October 31st, a Wednesday, the realization was sinking in that work would not resume for 1.5 million people who would normally commute to Manhattan – as well as those commuting to jobs in thousands of companies outside Manhattan. For those who had weak business continuity plans, there were far worse realizations.
Please view our YouTube video interviews with business and municipality leaders in the tri-state region. Each offers perspective gained from this tragedy and advice for other business owners.