While the speed and vastness of the world wide web is easily the greatest invention of our time, everyone has experienced internet downtime. When your internet service is down, the lapse in connectivity creates panic and distress. Common reasons for your internet’s downtime include power outages, issues with infrastructure, cyber attacks, or faulty equipment. No matter the reason, this downtime creates stress for any person or organization.
Training materials, SOPs, maintenance logs, and more may commonly be online-only nowadays. Instead of waiting for the loss of internet connectivity to search for documents, your company can take these preventative steps for offline documentation as part of your disaster recovery plan.
Print Your Documents
Having printed SOPs and manuals is typically required for compliance with regulators such as OSHA. While not the preferred method of training nowadays, printed materials offer a credible source of information. In an emergency situation, having printed copies of SOPs allows operations to continue offline with confidence, e.g. if a reference table is needed.
Printed materials should be dated and kept in a secure location. We also encourage separators or chapters for large binders or books. When internet downtime is unknown, printed documents are immensely helpful.
Check Local Cache on Computers or Mobile Devices
If your company does not use virtual servers, and if hard drive space cleaning is rare, you may be able to access documents on the device itself. Web browsers keep local cache to assist quick recall of previously visited websites. Programs such as Microsoft Word and Excel have similar functions in Local AppData folders (on Windows at least).
Offline documentation file retention is also available within cloud storage programs like Sharepoint and Dropbox, wherein files do not need to be pulled from the cloud. This may require judicious use, in the event drive space is limited.
Log Everything You Do
Whether for reasons of compliance, lawsuit mitigation, or internal politics, it rarely hurts to log every action performed during internet downtime. When in doubt, write down the steps you took to solve a problem or perform maintenance or whatever may be applicable to your task. Write the date and time, manager on duty, and your name next to any actions taken.
Offline documentation can still facilitate transactions, just as it did before the internet age. For instance, a retail store may be at a large disadvantage if their point-of-sale platform is down for hours. Instead, this retail store should have a plan to operate without POS connectivity in order to resume sales immediately. This may require declining credit/debit cards, depending on the POS functionality. However, cash-only sales are often better than shutting down the store, and for large purchases customers may return later in good faith to a helpful sales associate.
Why Bent Tree Writing?
Bent Tree Writing is a Texas-based writing duo, leveraging our combined technical and compliance backgrounds for regulated small businesses. With expertise in compliance and structured documentation, we produce high-quality content ranging from procedural manuals to strategic communications. Whether you are scaling your organization or strengthening existing systems, our work is tailored to your industry, audience, and operational needs. Bent Tree Writing has written disaster recovery and emergency response plans for hundreds of companies and can assist yours as well.
