The COVID-19 pandemic has been a complete game changer for businesses in ways that would have been unimaginable as little as a year ago. There’s a great chance that your small business or place of employment has had to make some big adjustments to compensate.
Even if your specific leadership supports work-from-home arrangements, many businesses simply weren’t ready to transition such a large amount of their workforce to working remotely, and that alone changed so many things. Now, both internal meetings and external meetings with clients as well as suppliers are happening online. And instead of being able to collaborate in person, you and your colleagues are doing it over the phone or by videoconference. Essentially, you’re revamping existing processes to ensure that everyone’s up to speed and accommodated.
Resources like cloud computing have aided in making the transition to fully remote work a bit easier, as documents and other files can be easily shared, edited and stored. Still, the need to adapt will surely remain while the pandemic continues, and it will probably change how you do business altogether going forward—even when the most truly turbulent times begin to subside.
As some buildings and offices have sat vacant for months, and may continue to do so depending on where your business is located, you’ve probably begun to notice just how much energy you use on a daily basis, and the way you use it has changed. If you own a small business, you may even be faced with unsightly energy bills coming at some of the worst possible times.
That’s where Discount Power can help. If you want more control over your business’s energy costs, we offer great, affordable rates, with options including fixed-rate pricing to keep your electric or natural gas rates locked in, giving you peace of mind in these uncertain times. We even offer Green Energy Plans that offset 100% of your electric usage by carbon-neutral, wind-generated sources.
As you evaluate your operations, consider post-COVID-19 business ideas. These adjustments can include an overhaul of your digital tools, equipment, systems or any number of technological enhancements. They’re all needed to help your employees work from home, to improve and increase cybersecurity, to improve Wi-Fi connections for improved speed and efficiency and to ensure data protection in the event of a power outage.
With every challenge comes an opportunity. Among your streamlining practices to accommodate new operations, you have an opportunity to reduce your energy usage, which can help save money from a business perspective. This applies when you’re fully remote and even when your employees start returning to the office. Here are just a few starter ideas:
Migrate data to the cloud. Moving information to the cloud keeps data and systems accessible, allowing your employees to work productively from remote sites. You’ll need reliable Wi-Fi, effective mobile devices and strong security.
Having more of your business operations on the cloud means your employees can work from home securely, further reducing overhead on office space, and the consistent, necessary cooling of systems and servers therein. You may need to look into proper online meeting software, document-sharing software, and messaging and project management applications to further assist your team in these areas as well.
Convert to laptops wherever you can. Did you know laptop computers use approximately 80% less electricity than desktop computers? For many professions, computing on a laptop can be done in the exact same, effective ways as they can be done on a traditional desktop.
Go paperless. Put as many of your interoffice communications and forms as possible online. Mobile apps, scanners, forms and signatures can be digitized, which can help to pull back on physical printers, and associated ink costs. This creates an opportunity to not only save on energy costs but to reduce your environmental impact and carbon footprint as well.
If your work-from-home systems run smoothly, productivity can remain high. You may even be able to increase employee satisfaction and retention by maintaining these new energy-efficient arrangements. That, furthermore, can allow you to create a truly sustainable small business. Even better, your business may benefit from state or local energy efficiency and renewable energy grants, or rebate programs as you apply these news practices and protocols!
By taking time to rethink your tools and approaches, you can make your business stronger and more prepared for whatever the future holds. And when it comes to energy costs, Discount Power can help.
At the end of the day, there’s no risk. If you don’t think we’re delivering on our promises, you can always switch back to your utility company at the end of your term. But we think once you give us a try, you’re going to be happy you came over to Discount Power!