This article is in regards to how prepared your Dealership is for Power or IT infrastructure failure
Recent events in the world have reminded us of how reliant we are on Information Technology to operate our businesses, and how disruptive it is when a system fails
Reasons include:
Power Grid outage
Wildfire damage to infrastructure
Weather events such as storms and extreme cold
Internet Provider failure
Cyber Attacks
As we do not know when these types of failures are going to occur (unless you have access to a crystal ball), Dealerships would be prudent to have a Data Emergency Plan documented and ready to go
Your Data Emergency Plan is just like an Insurance Policy - you hope you never have to use it, but are very grateful if you ever have to use it
IT Failure
What are the essential activities that must continue in event of an IT failure? How can we manage temporarily with a manual system?
Remember that businesses operated just fine on paper systems decades ago - just a lot slower
However, it is difficult to be efficient without information technology in our modern economy. If challenged by an IT failure, how do we continue to function until the situation is rectified?
A manual backup system is less efficient, but better than not being able to trade
Parts Inventory Price and Availability
- At a regular interval run the Part Inventory Valuation report
This is the link to the relevant article on how to run this report - Reporting - Part Valuation
- Change the search parameter, to report on Quantity Available greater than zero
- Then export to CSV file or print a hard copy
Our suggestion would be to export to CSV and save to a laptop computer. You then have the ability to search the price and location of any part you keep in stock. Naturally it may not be as accurate as real time data due to stock movements, but it will be very close
The Blackpurl Team hopes you never are challenged by an IT failure, but a simple and clear plan will lower the stress levels if it ever happens
Power Outages
Blackpurl is Cloud base so just as long as you have access to the internet ie hot spot off your cell/mobile, you can still perform sales etc
Our suggestion would be to always have a tablet full charged and be able to connect to the internet without the need of the Dealership's Internet