The Department of Trade and Industry has found that 70 percent of small businesses suffering a major data loss are out of business within 18 months. Could that be you or your company? My Dad always told me that "failing to plan, was planning to fail". In the case of lost data, this is critical.Any business owner, regardless of the size of their business, should have a disaster recovery plan in place. Data loss can occur in any number of ways. From human error or viruses, to hardware or system malfunction. If you've ever experienced the "blue screen of death", you know the disbelief and the feeling of PANIC that shortly follows. I recently experienced a blue screen moment and can testify to the panic that ensues. Our main computer suffered a virus that locked up every program on our system. In a heartbeat we were unable to access
- Customer databases
- Supplier details
- Inventory data
- Financial documents
- Marketing materials, including a huge data base of pictures and video tutorials
- Employee Records
- ... and list goes on...
Thankfully, we had a solid recovery plan in place and we're able to call in the right people to resolve our worst nightmare within a few hours. BUT... what if we had not protected ourselves with a data recovery plan? Certainly, we would not be in business today. Our recovery plan was implemented when I first started my company. I contacted a local IT firm to provide managed IT services. It's been a God-send in every sense of the word. Yes, I do have to pay a monthly fee for this service, however, should anything fail, malfunction, or need service, I just pick up the phone and help is on the way. In a nutshell, I have transferred the day-to-day technology management responsibilities to a team of professionals. They host all of our business software and provide support for us 24/7.
I understand that not all businesses are in a position to employ the services of an IT company. However, you can still protect your data by having a good back-up program in place. Whether you use your own back-up device or an online back-up service, you need to make sure your data is protected EVERY SINGLE DAY. You've worked too hard to make your business a success. Why would you jeopardize all that hard work? Here are a few links that will provide information or services that can help you to better manage your business data.
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