Unless you’re operating your business via a stable time loop fixed in 1953, you’ve most likely eschewed the punch card in favor of a more modern type of storage.  This should be regarded as a good thing.  However, just as the technologically progressive turnip farmer circa the 1960’s wouldn’t have kept all of his valuable root vegetable data on a lone magnetic disk, today’s business owner must recognize that even the most modern of storage device can become compromised.  Flood, fire, cyclone… you must be prepared to face such disasters or face having the data you need to carry on your business be irretrievably lost.

There are some things that are very important to your business, and there are some things that are very much not. As sweet as your minesweeper score is, should you really place it in as high regard as your billing records or inventory?  Is that a silly example?  Yes.  An almost shamefully silly one at that, but learning to recognize which files are truly important is very important.  Files that you’ve created and/or modified such as accounting files, databases, word processing documents, spreadsheets or emails are usually some of the most difficult to replace and should definitely be considered.

Now that you’ve identified all of your most important data, what do you do with it?  Wood etchings are highly flammable, and oral tradition will only stick around as long as you can keep a group entertained with your 1998 financial earnings document. (I know it was a sweet year, but eventually that ‘N Sync concert you wrote off as a business expense loses its charm.)  Ideally, you should have both a physical data backup on site for quick local access, and a secure, offsite location in case a more extreme complete disaster recovery is required.

Of course, if you’d like to remove some of the hassle from this process, or, much as you didn’t cook your own food the last time you went out to a fancy restaurant, you’d like the work done by the experienced hands of people trained and tested in the IT field, feel free to contact us.  See what we can do to keep your data safe, your business safer, and your peace of mind saferest.