Mission critical work is complex, but the definition of mission critical is in itself, simple. The definition is in its name. “Mission critical”—anything that involves working with the equipment or systems that are essential to an operation. Typically, people associate this work with a data center, but it is not limited to just this work.

Nabholz performs mission critical work for telecommunications clients, hospitals, and retail centers. Mission critical work is also essential to the oil and gas, banking, and manufacturing industries. Generally, any systems businesses depend on to keep operations going—usually electrical, mechanical, communications, or utility—need regular upgrades and maintenance work performed to minimize any downtime and loss of business. Failure of these systems are not an option—all components must operate every day, without exception or incident.

Nabholz knows exactly how to plan this critical work in a way that poses as little risk to the facility as possible. We do this by considering what crucial things might be affected by our work. Then, we bring in temporary or backup power, heat, air conditioning, water, or gas to assure no or limited interruptions to productivity. We perform this critical work around peak business hours. Speed and efficiency are our focus.

Our team members have experience writing MOPs or Method of Procedures. These documents walk step-by-step through the most critical work so no step is missed or overlooked. These procedures often require a dry run so that everyone is familiar with the work when it comes time to do it for real. To combat any unforeseen problems, we prepare at least one back-out procedure in addition to the main MOP.

Clients looking at undertaking mission critical work should look for the following qualities in a contractor:

1. Planning and preparation. And then more planning and preparation. If your contractor doesn’t do this, RUN, don’t walk, away.
2. Experience. Mission Critical work is not a training exercise. This is the future of your business.
3. A fair price, but not the lowest bid. The contractor’s priorities should match your own. Like you, your contractor should see maintaining operations as the first priority, second to price and schedule. This is contradictory to what we see in typical construction, where schedule and price are the priority.
4. Redundancy. Like in mission critical work itself, redundancy is key. Your contractor should present multiple solutions for possible problems.
5. Most importantly, a partner. At Nabholz, our goal is to keep your business running and expanding. Hire a contractor you feel comfortable asking questions and who is as invested as you are in the success of this project.