By Karen Axelton

87560344Record snowstorms and blizzards on the East Coast last week have had people hunkering down in their homes. Do small businesses have to suffer when the weather goes crazy? Not if they’re smart.

My partners and I are all equipped to work from wherever, whenever. A few weeks back, a massive rain front pretty much shut down Southern California for a few days (don’t laugh, East Coasters). Local authorities urged people to stay off the roads. What to do? The answer was easy – we just worked from our homes and no one was the wiser.

Tools you might want to consider to help make working remotely easier include smartphones, laptops, netbooks, remote conference calling capabilities and virtual file storage so you can access documents from wherever you are. There are more options than ever today, so there’s really no reason not to have remote capabilities.

Giving your employees the ability to work from home may be a little more complex, but it’s a step worth taking to keep your business running in case of natural disaster (or just a bad downpour). The Wall Street Journal has some useful tips on working from home that you should consider if you’re equipping your employees to do so.