Five Years Post-Blackout, SMBs Still Not Ready

Glenn Reynolds is pointing out that the fifth anniversary of the great Northeast blackout of 2003 is upon us, and there appears to be a mixed bag of improvements to the national grid but much work that still needs to be done:

And, of course, we're not adding new generating capacity quickly enough to keep up with demand. Should I buy a generator?

For individuals, a small generator might not be a bad idea. But what about a small business? Have they thought about backup?

It doesn't take a power grid failure, either, to turn out the lights: Ask anybody in Florida what they have to prepare for every year during hurricane season.

Shockingly, Emerson Network Power has done some research that finds that, despite years of headlines, most small businesses haven't gotten the message:

For small businesses, power outages can be disastrous if they are not prepared. Technologies that make it easy to quickly transfer to back-up sources can keep small companies in a struggling economy not only out of the dark but also, quite possibly, out of the red.

Unfortunately, not all businesses — especially small ones — have prepared themselves for outages. In fact, a 2008 survey of 451 U.S. small businesses commissioned by Emerson Network Power showed that 61 percent do not have back-up power supplies.

Think about the small businesses you know. How many could survive five days or a week in the dark without a catastrophic impact on operations?