Eaton Helps You Weather the Storms

We're in the height of storm season, and it's just getting worse and worse every year. Natural disasters of any type pose a great threat to any business. In recent years, many retailers, in particular, have evolved their strategies to incorporate more digital and cloud-based solutions, enhancing productivity and enabling eCommerce. With this increased reliance on digital infrastructure, there's an ever-growing need to ensure that the technologies that keep that infrastructure up and running are protected from the elements. 

"Prevention and visibility are essential factors in achieving the always-on power retailers demand," Ed Spears, Technical Marketing Manager at Eaton, explains. And while businesses of any size and purpose face the same size and scope of natural disasters like hurricanes, each retailer will need to choose the right approach to fit their unique needs. This approach can include a variety of solutions, with integrated power management technology as the first line of defense. Your customized system should include some combination of the following: 

• Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPSs). UPSs "serve as the foundation of your power protection strategy," Ed says, "providing critical backup power and a bridge to generator power to ensure IT functions stay up and running in the event of an outage." You can even take advantage of increasingly cost-effective lithium-ion batteries to enjoy longer battery life with a smaller footprint. Integrated network cards improve connectivity and cybersecurity and can work with other connected solutions, like disaster avoidance software, for a fully integrated system. 
• Disaster avoidance software. Speaking of that, disaster avoidance software helps you manage your power infrastructure, offering a high level of visibility and control, even from a remote location. You can shut down or reboot your system, even when it's impractical to physically be on-site. 
• Remote monitoring and predictive analytics. Remote monitoring enables you to understand your equipment's health and learn when to replace components - before they fail. This is data that you can access off-site, so if you're managing multiple locations, you don't have to physically visit each one regularly just to check on the status of your power management system. You can also use predictive analytics to understand your power trends over time, enabling you to make decisions proactively, rather than only once a component has failed or downtime has occurred. 
• Power management that meets cybersecurity standards. With increasing threats of data loss and other compromising events, it's critical to ensure that you incorporate cybersecurity into your power management strategy. "Cybersecurity safeguards [should be] part of any decisions around procuring power management equipment, especially as ransomware has grown in prominence and impact," Ed explains. Look for products that are certified to meet cybersecurity standards to help protect your power management system - and your customers - from potential attacks. 

Additionally, you'll want to incorporate complementary solutions, like surge protectors, power strips, and wall mount rack enclosures. These solutions help you safeguard equipment, save space, and streamline future upgrades. 

In order to ensure that your technology is protected and your business can stay up and running, you need to identify the right solution and customize it to your needs. Fortunately, Eaton and Accu-Tech can help with that process. Reach out to your local Accu-Tech representative, or visit Eaton's page on our website.