For the 2nd time this year we have seen how the weather can disrupt businesses across Ireland with staff not being able to attend the office and customers not being able to make it to the shops, but do we really have to be so reliant on the weather for business?
What do businesses do in Scandinavia? Do they close down for 3 weeks as Ireland has done this year in January, November and December 2010. As I wrote back in January with the title “Snow effect on the Internet” https://blog.cadamedia.ie/2010/01/snow-effect-on-the-internet/ we have to learn to be smarter and plan to disruption in the running of our companies if we are to progress in business.
Over the past two weeks we have seen a huge jump in the use of our websites as the servers usage logs demonstrate and these logs give us an insight into the ways the Internet has been used when roads and shops were closed or impassable. We also had a jump in inquiries in from businesses wondering how they could gain access to their office information without the travel. The next type of inquiry was for eCommerce and asking general information about how they could accept payments online.
Open 24/7 365 days a year!
The Internet for many is Google or Facebook or booking flights, but for the wise, it is an opportunity to stop moaning about the weather or the economy and start doing business as others lock their shop or office doors at 5.30pm and go home. Imaging doubling your staff or opening another shop in another town but with a fraction of the costs. The Internet does exactly that. It expands your chances of selling products, selling services, accepting payments, working remotely, marketing your business to mention a few.
During the snow we were able to help companies setup online payment facilities, gain access to edit office documents remotely and generally administer their business from the comfort of their own home using an Internet connection via a laptop or smart phone.
A local road near Courtown Harbour is currently closed for repair meaning that hundreds living there have to travel to Dublin using a back road to get onto the M11. This minor back road was frozen over and virtually impassable meaning that hundreds of commuters were unable to get to work in Dublin for the first week and parts of the second week till the road was cleared by the county council. Literally thousands of man hours lost due to the snow, meanwhile remember the ones who were able to gain access to their offices via online means were able to continue to work.
So the next time the snow arrives and “Ireland closes down” , think again about the advantages of the internet and how some people are not as badly effected as people may think and in fact they are striving ahead in business. With forecast for more snow before Christmas this could mean that those who have not got a Internet strategy plan could be closed for a further week !
Don’t be one of those people, the Internet is not just for web designers, every business is an Internet business in our eyes. Call Dave Jordan on 053 9430748 today to see how you can cut costs and help grow your business when your competitors are closed due to Snow!
