IT Disaster Recovery Best Practices from an MSP After a Hurricane

In the aftermath of Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton, IT disaster recovery is top of mind for Tampa Bay businesses. Within a three-week period, our business community experienced flooding, widespread power outages and physical damage to office buildings because of the storms.

At Atlas, IT disaster recovery is a top priority for our managed service clients. We take a proactive approach to help our clients – as well as our own team – prepare for a storm. With the right planning, even though our staff was also impacted by the storms, we were able to help clients mitigate damage to their IT networks and get back to work quickly following the recent hurricanes.

Client praise following recent hurricanes

Here’s what one of our clients had to say following the recent storms:

“Atlas came through and gave us one less thing to worry about as the storm approached and how we came back to full operation afterwards.” – Bob Rohrlack, Tampa Bay Chamber

How Atlas prepared clients for the storms

As a Florida-based company, we are acutely aware of the damage a hurricane can cause to a business. Each year, we encourage our local clients to review and update their IT disaster recovery and hurricane preparedness plan. This should include:

• Establishing backups and redundancies for power, internet and hardware.
• Storing or backing up all data using cloud storage solutions or colocation services.
• Establishing a remote work policy if you do not already have one in place.
• Moving all hardware, including servers and workstations, out of harm’s way.

As a storm approaches our area, we work with clients to activate this plan. Ahead of Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton, our team also took the following steps to prepare our managed IT services clients:

• Identify vulnerable clients. We closely monitor storms and determine who will be impacted by severe weather. This includes wind, flooding, power outages and downed trees that could damage the building and the equipment inside.
• Develop a customized IT disaster recovery If a client is in the storm’s path, we reach out to determine what steps they are taking to protect their business. From there, we can determine where we are needed and how we can best protect their IT infrastructure.
• Relocate servers and equipment. For clients with on-premise servers, our team goes onsite to shut down the equipment and move servers to a safe location. This includes elevating them off the floor to mitigate flood damage or moving them to a safer location.
• Double-check backups and redundancies. Part of our ongoing IT disaster recovery planning includes checking server backups once a month. Before a storm, we confirm that all backups are current and saved to the cloud. We also complete a test restoration to confirm that data is intact and usable.
• Prepare for remote work. Given that offices may be out of power for weeks following a storm, our team prepares to support a remote workforce. This includes turning on the company’s Virtual Private Network (VPN) and cloud-based solutions.

How Atlas supported clients during the storms

As a Tampa-based company, our team was also impacted by the recent hurricanes. However, it was important that we remain operational during the storm to assist our clients with their IT disaster recovery needs.

“Our team went above and beyond,” said Atlas CEO Tony Martinez. “Many of them relocated to alternative sites to ensure they had continuous power and internet to serve our clients without interruption. We are proud of their dedication to our clients during a time when they, too, were impacted by the storms.”

Once in a safe location, our team accessed our systems remotely through a VPN. Our workforce tools – like ConnectWise – were also available, so we could operate just like we do in our office.

How Atlas got clients back up and running quickly

Following Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton, many Tampa Bay businesses were without power for days or even weeks. Power and internet outages were widespread, and many businesses had physical damage to their buildings that also needed to be addressed.

At Atlas, we took steps to make sure our team was fully operational quickly following the storms. We then connected with clients to determine the extent of their damage and if they had power and internet.

Once our clients regained power, our team sprang into action and enacted our IT disaster recovery plan. Our team took the following steps after the storms:

• Relocated equipment that had been moved. If we moved equipment ahead of the storm, we then moved everything back to its original location when it was safe to do so. We had a dedicated team who handled this step and served as our boots on the ground for local clients.
• Confirmed that all IT equipment was operational. Next, we turned on all equipment to ensure it was operational and visible in our system. If we encountered any issues, our team was available to troubleshoot until the problem was resolved.
• Confirmed that all systems were restored. Lastly, our team confirmed that all IT systems were operating the same way they were before the storms. This required running tests and confirming data was available and staff had appropriate access.

Prepare now for next hurricane season

For businesses with offices in the Southeast, now is the time to prepare for the 2025 hurricane season. Florida residents are now acutely aware of the impact a major hurricane can have on their business. If your IT disaster recovery did not go according to plan this year, take that information and make a better plan for next year.

Specifically, here are a few things to consider:

• Now is the time to determine if your server room needs a higher rack to protect equipment from flooding.
• Moving to cloud-based servers might be right for your business, if you currently use on-premises servers.
• At Atlas, we also recommend Datto for business continuity. Datto can have on-premise servers back up and running quickly, so your team can get back to work following a storm.

Preparing your business for a hurricane does not have to be overwhelming, particularly when it comes to IT disaster recovery. When you work with a managed services provider, like Atlas, data backup and recovery, server solutions and network support – as well as cybersecurity and more – are all part of your managed IT services agreement.

Contact us today to learn more about our managed IT services and how we can help prepare you for the 2025 hurricane season.