Overview
A financial institution with a network of branches and a central operations facility was experiencing recurring power-related incidents — systems going offline during brief outages, UPS units failing silently, and servers shutting down ungracefully during load-shedding events. An internal review found that no formal UPS maintenance or battery testing programme existed, and many units in service had batteries well beyond their rated lifespan.
Western Premium was engaged to assess the full UPS estate, execute a battery replacement programme, and establish ongoing power continuity maintenance.
Challenges
- Unmonitored UPS Estate – No visibility into battery health, load levels, or runtime capacity across the network.
- Silent Failures – Multiple UPS units had failed batteries that only became apparent during actual power events.
- Ungraceful Shutdowns – Servers and point-of-sale systems were shutting down hard during outages, risking data corruption and hardware damage.
- Load-Shedding Exposure – Frequent grid interruptions were exposing the institution to operational risk with no reliable backup power assurance.
Solution
Western Premium conducted a systematic health assessment of the entire UPS estate, testing battery capacity, checking load levels, and documenting runtime estimates for each unit. A prioritised replacement programme was developed based on risk, with critical systems addressed first.
- Full UPS Health Assessment – Tested and documented battery health, load, and runtime for every UPS unit across all locations.
- Prioritised Battery Replacement – Replaced failed and end-of-life batteries in order of operational criticality, starting with core banking systems and ATMs.
- Load Balancing – Redistributed connected loads to ensure appropriate runtime coverage during outages.
- Ongoing Maintenance Programme – Established a bi-annual UPS servicing schedule with health reports provided after each visit.
Results
- Zero Ungraceful Shutdowns during power events following the battery replacement programme.
- Full Runtime Assurance across all critical systems with documented and verified backup capacity.
- Proactive Risk Management with battery health monitored and replacements planned ahead of failure.
- Operational Continuity maintained through multiple load-shedding events with no system downtime.
Conclusion
The power continuity programme gave the financial institution confidence that its infrastructure would hold through power events — protecting data, maintaining service availability, and avoiding costly emergency interventions. Western Premium now manages the UPS maintenance programme on an ongoing basis across the full branch network.
