Smart Money Choice$

Computers are a vital part of doing business on a day-to-day basis. Daily operations usually involve inputting data, creating documents, processing and recording financial transactions, sending email and using websites of all kinds.

Without computers, an amazing number of businesses would come to a grinding halt. I know I would be finished without a computer and the Internet! What about your business?

As wonderful as technology has been for small businesses though, there is a BIG vulnerability that comes with computer dependency. Hardware failure.

Millions of dollars are spent annually to recover lost data. The data recovery industry is HUGE and continues to grow. That’s because it’s a given. Your computer hardware will fail sooner or later. Whether it’s due to internal or external forces, it will happen. Are you ready?

I’ve had my own share of computer crashes that could have put me out of business in short order - if I didn’t have complete backups. But I did. My computer’s hard drive crashed not once, but three times in just one month. All data was destroyed and lost. Apparently the problem was an obscure glitch with the motherboard that was frying the hard drive. Yes, the computer was still under warranty, but if I didn’t have those backup copies of all my data, my business would have been dead.

Could you handle a complete crash of your computer hard drive right now?

At the time of those crashes, I was using a tape backup system. But I wouldn’t dream of using that same system now. Computer files are much larger now. It would take far too long and it’s way too risky as well. At the time, I was only keeping a copy of the backup in my desk drawer. But I realize now that it wasn’t a smart plan for storing backup data.

What if there had been a fire in my office or a break-in? What about a hurricane or an earthquake that destroyed everything in my local area? If that had happened, there would have been no way I could have put my business back together.

That’s why I’m now a big fan of online backups.

Most of us have heard and agree that keeping an off-site backup copy is a good idea. But how many of us actually do it, or do it regularly? I didn’t. That is, until I started using an online backup service.

An online backup service is convenient, inexpensive and easy. You just need a high-speed Internet connection. All your files (or just the ones you select) will be transferred to a secure online file storage server, which is usually located in a different part of the country. Your backups can be scheduled automatically too, so you don’t have to remember to do it manually.

Being able to restore your data easily is also important. Different services use different programs for backing up your files. So if you decide to make the smart choice of using an online data backup service, it’s a good idea to practice restoring your backed-up data so you’ll know how to get at your files when the need arises.

Of course, you have many choices when it comes to online backups. Here are a few options I’ve explored myself and recommend:

- QuickBooks Online Backup - You can set up this service from within QuickBooks. Just go to the Help menu, click Add QuickBooks Service, and you will find Online Backup as one of the choices. You will also be given the option to sign up when you perform a regular backup within QuickBooks software.

- FilesAnywhere - this is the online backup service I use, which has many other nifty features built in for your business. They also offer a free trial to see if you like the service. I like that you can set up an icon on your desktop to get access to your backup files anytime you need them (no special restore program needed). 

- Amazon S3 (Simple Storage Service) - this is something new I’ve just learned about from my online business mentor, Jim Edwards. It is an inexpensive way to get a huge amount of secure online storage space for your computer data. I’m still figuring out how to use it, but it is a very powerful alternative if you have lots of multimedia files that take up a ton of memory. You can learn more about this new service directly from Amazon at http://aws.amazon.com/s3.

Using several backup methods is the best protection against the inevitable. Take steps now to implement a backup strategy and protect your computer data. It’s certainly one of the smartest choices you can make for your business.

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Gabrielle Fontaine, PB is a freelance Professional Bookkeeper and Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor. She specializes in assisting Internet-savvy entrepreneurs to get control of their books and maximize profits. Gabrielle also publishes the business-boosting online ezine, Smart Money Choices. Get more information at http://BookkeepingDirect.com

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 4th, 2008 at 9:56 am and is filed under Articles. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site. Your comments will appear immediately, but I reserve the right to delete innapropriate comments.