Think about all the information you rely on for your business. You have emails from your coworkers and clients, sales records, contracts and proposals, client profiles, your website, form templates, and more. You really don’t want to lose all that – or any of it.
Backing up all of your digital information is your best form of insurance against data loss. Data loss can occur for a number of reasons:
- Hardware failure
- Hacking
- Data corruption
- Accidental deletion
- Software changes
With all those threats to your data out there, a backup is definitely a good thing to have around. In fact, I’m going to argue that you want to have at least two backups on hand: an older one and a newer one. The reason is this: the newer one will have all your recent changes, while the older one is more likely to be free of whatever problem caused your data loss. If you got hacked a week ago, having only yesterday’s backup is unhelpful.
The details of how to make your backup and where to store it are things you can discuss with your IT provider. For example, Janus Networks can set you up with automatic backups to a secure data center. Here are a few questions you might want to consider: Do you want to back up to an external server, a dedicated server in your office, or even a desktop computer or portable hard drive? How often does your data change? You might need a new backup once a month, once a week, once a day, or once an hour. If you’re backing up frequently, you might want to set up an automatic backup so you don’t have to remember to do it manually. Finally, make sure that the format you’re using for the backup is easy to use when it comes time for a restoration.
In the end, whichever method you choose, just make sure you have a backup.
By Sharon Campbell