Black Friday: Don’t Forget the UPS for Home Office Electronics

Black Friday is already underway. As a result of persistent supply chain disruptions, retailers are currently offering deals to encourage consumers to start their holiday shopping early. However, wait too long, they warn, and the items on your list may be gone by the time you get around to shopping.

The supply chain issues are related to COVID-19 manufacturing shutdowns and transportation disruptions. The pandemic has affected the shipping, railroad, and trucking industries, making it difficult for manufacturers to obtain containers to transport goods.

These issues are causing headaches for retailers who are anticipating shortages as the shopping season starts. For consumers, this likely means paying more for items such as TVs, gaming consoles, laptops, and other products. Worst-case scenario, those items may fly off the shelves before you get there.

Work from home effects

The supply chain disruptions come as more people than ever are working from home. This has placed an extra burden on employers to ensure the devices their remote employees use are secured and protected from power outages. Anything connected to an electrical outlet is subject to power interruptions, which can be more than a simple inconvenience for workers who need their laptops, smartphones, printers, WiFi routers, and other devices for their jobs.

Power outages also affect expensive electronics such as gaming consoles and flat-screen TVs; they need protection too. Whether you’re concerned about a device that enables you to work from home or allows you to unwind after a long day, you should protect them with an uninterruptible power supply (UPS).

UPS protection

A UPS provides battery backup and surge protection, keeping devices running in the event of a power failure. Depending on the UPS model, you can run your devices for several minutes or a few hours. When the power goes out, the UPS kicks in to prevent damage to equipment or data loss. With a UPS, you have time to shut down equipment gracefully and even continue working for an extended time depending on the battery capacity of the UPS.

Unfortunately, power outages are getting more and more frequent as weather events become more intense. Wildfires, windstorms, hurricanes, blizzards and floods all can lead to an outage that lasts hours or days.

But outages aren’t the only problem. Power surges, dips, and spikes in the electrical current can damage electronics and computing equipment. UPSs protect your equipment against such risks, as explained in this blog on surge protection.

Shop now for UPS solutions

With Black Friday deals already available, if you have computing or electronic devices on your holiday list, you might want to start shopping now. Don’t forget to buy a UPS to protect your devices. Most households have thousands of dollars invested in electronics and computing equipment.

If you’re an IT solution provider managing work-from-home setups for your clients, this is a good time to review those environments to ensure they are protected. APC by Schneider Electric offers a full range of UPSs for home offices and household electronics, including a new UPS model designed specifically for gaming consoles. For the home office, check out this award-winning UPS which provides reliable backup power for home computers, electronics, and even wireless routers to keep work from home employees productive. Whether you’re an IT solution provider or consumer, you have plenty of options for surge and power protection. So shop early and enjoy your holidays!