The fires in San Diego have created some panic and pandemonium with friends and colleagues. I awoke to many emails, all expressing concern. I am thankful that so many people care and are expressing their concerns. It's touching and heartfelt.
Let me set everyone at ease who cares. I'm safe. Danielle and Michelle who assist me in the home office are safe, and the only thing to worry about is the wine, but even that is safe as I've spread the collection across the county and none of the places seem to be in the path of the fire (yet!) Many of you also know I also am living a nomadic life. The house is under renovation as is my entire development so while I have a house in the Del Mar/Solana Beach area of San Diego County, my wife also has a home and medical practice in Sacramento, and with this being conference season, my road warrior like life predominates so hotels are more like home these days.
When I launched my company, an Asymmetrical Marketing Communications agency, Comunicano in 1993, it was built around the model of working anywhere, at anytime. For years my motto has been, "all I need is an American Express card, FedEx and an Internet Connection, and I am in business." It has never been more true and really hit home more than today with the fires that are raging in San Diego and Los Angeles County. Something we're very much prepared for.
While I'm genuinely concerned about friends and neighbors, I'm also comforted by the fact that my team whom I consider like family is geographically spread out across the nation and we are able to keep things running to benefit our clients from around the globe we serve and service. Those on our team in the San Diego area are thankfully either not residing in the projected path of the fire or are now on the road. One member who is based in Los Angeles is keeping a close eye on things and can leave on a moments notice to higher and safer ground if needed.
As professionals in the PR industry we preach crisis management, so when put into a state of emergency like this is when all the planning ahead of time really comes in to play.
First all my team is on the Internet and can be on the Net almost anywhere at anytime. They are spread out in every continental United States time zone. I call that human redundancy.
Second, those that are in San Diego have Sprint or Verizon wireless data cards to use as needed if they have to hit the road. They have broadband in their homes and apartments as well at the homes of their families. We have multiple Boingo and T-Mobile accounts and I can easily add other T-Mobile accounts so using WiFi Hotspots (no pun intended) is also easy in case they have to leave the area so they can stay connected on the go.
Third-We're all on Gizmo Project, Skype and SightSpeed so we can stay in contact with clients and each other without touching a cell phone. Just this morning, client and friend Peter Csathy, CEO of SightSpeed agreed to make SightSpeed Pro free to business users affected by the fire at our suggestion. This is very important as people want to see their families and friend and also still need to stay in touch with their customers and colleagues. With the local governments discouraging the use of cell phones during this state of emergency this is where the Net plays the starring role and services like SightSpeed come to the forefront to keep things up and running, and making business stay "business as usual".
Anyone with a broadband connection, a webcam and a PC or Mac can talk and see one another. What's more since business needs to continue, the multi-party video conferencing feature can play a pivotal role in keeping things going face to face over the Internet, in case cell service becomes even more difficult to use. With many people evacuating for shelter, heading to hotels, houses of friends and elsewhere, as long as they have access to the 'Net, like my business, they can keep up and running. During the 911 crisis in 2001 the Metricom Ricochet network was turned back on in New York City. It helped work around the crisis and enabled communication to flow over the Net, when the cellular services got bogged down. I'm sensing the same thinking can apply here.
We're following the preachings of Michael Robertson and keeping things cloud based. We also use Basecamp from 37Signals. That allows us all to see and work on documents, track projects. It keeps me sane and our clients up to date that we've migrated over. In addition there is JungleDisk and Microsoft Exchange. Lose a laptop or crash a desktop's hard drive and most people panic. By using services like those, and having everything backed up, we're working and storing everything virtually and having it there when we need it again.
In times of emergencies, using the Internet for public safety is crucial. For business, staying connected is what the 'Net provides. Smart companies are already online, but having the tools on your tool belt and being ready to go is the key.
Like the Boy Scout's motto "be prepared" was never better echoed, and never more in practice. This is an example of "drinking my own wine" or "eating our own dog food."
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