BDO in Ukraine is equipped to handle possible power outages in Ukraine's power system

 

The risk of rolling blackouts was considered as absolutely real. Therefore, we begin to discuss the measures that we can take to reduce it. It was a classic risk assessment process, when we discuss a challenging winter period with blackouts, and outside it is hot weather and stable power supply.

It was decided that to ensure the continuous operation of the company and employees, staying in Ukraine, should have 2-10 hours of laptop battery life. The autonomous work is understood as the power of the laptop and access to the Internet.
POWER

We decided to divide the company's employees into several categories.

1) The first category. All the employees, — since most of them are using laptops, — were questioned and asked to test the laptop's battery by using it instead of power, and to check how many hours it holds. If less than 2 hours, then there is the need to replace the laptop battery with a new one. As a result, about 30 employees of the company applied for the replacement of the battery. So, we have 2-4 hours of battery life for all employees of the company. 

2)  Critical employees who work on foreign projects, so their accessibility is important to ensure the continuity of service provision. We included employees with partner and manager status. We decided to buy UPS for them.
We have chosen APC BX1600MI-GR variant. Tests showed 3.5-4 hours of laptop running from it. Also, when buying UPS, we kept in mind that it makes an unpleasant sound (squeaking) when it runs on battery power. It can distract from work and interfere with online meetings. Therefore, we purchased devices with the ability to mute the beeping sound.

These batteries were delivered to employees' homes, as most of them still work remotely.

3)  The third category includes not only the second one, but also the company's accounting department. The importance of accountants' accessibility is extremely high, because the company should fulfill its financial obligations. It happened that our accountants of our company used to work with desktop computers in the office in Dnipro. Therefore, we decided to use another option for them. We purchased new laptops with PowerDelivery function and 30 thousand mAh power banks, which are powered via Type-C cord. Thus, the accounting department of our company will have more than 10 hours of battery life. This option is also convenient in terms of mobility, because the laptop and power bank are easy to transport.
 
INTERNET

Since the outbreak of war, internal roaming has become available in Ukraine. This means that if your operator is unavailable, you can use the connection through the base stations of another operator, which is available in your area.

The option should be as efficient and convenient as possible, so we decided that Wi-Fi sharing through the phone (Wi-fi hotspot) was exactly what we were looking for. We briefed our employees on the procedure to be followed in case of a power outage.

For example, in the event of a blackout, we recommend the following actions​​:
  1. turn on the charge saving mode in Windows and make the screen brightness as low as possible (of course, at a level comfortable for the eyes);
     
  2. cconnect to UPS or power bank (if available) and start working using it until the charge is low. And only then switch to battery use, if the power is still off at that time;
     
  3. turn on the Wi-fi Hotspot access point with a strong password set (at least 8 characters consisting of numbers, uppercase, lowercase letters and it is recommended to add special characters) and be sure to select the WPA2-PSK security protocol. Connect to the access point via a laptop. 
We have done our best to prepare for possible power outages in the country's power grid, so that the company's employees could continue to perform their work on time and with proper quality.
 

P.S. . This article was written and emailed to colleagues during the power outage in the area where the author lives 😊