Published on January 23, 2009 Your website backup is not enough. Backup your PC!
If you have an Ozcart website, your website’s data gets backed up automatically every day by the server. But your Ozcart website only holds part of your business: what about everything else to do with your business? Copies of your business correspondence, your GST spreadsheets, product images you have downloaded from your camera, product specifications, emails from your suppliers, the list goes on.
The lack of a comprehensive backup of the a firm’s electronic data is one of the biggest security and business risks that small businesses face. And few businesses even realise how big and real that risk is until it is too late: their office is broken into or they face a fire.
Our advice for 2009: if you don’t have any backups of your computer data and you are running a business, make it a new year’s resolution that you keep.
Also note that if you are accepting credit cards, part of your PCI DSS compliance declaration for your business is that you have an adequate security and information recovery policy, so it’s more than just a worthwhile exercise.
To backup your PC, you need the following things: backup software for your PC, backup hardware (something to physically back up on to) and a regular backup routine (daily, weekly or monthly depending on how much information you have and how often it changes). If you have the time,daily backups are definitely recommended.
Quality matters when it comes to backup equipment – your business is in the hands of the equipment you choose. We recommend you buy the best you can afford: a quality tape drive backup will be able to store large amounts of data and can be backed up relatively quickly compared to using 20 to 40 dvds to backup a typical computer laptop. Read the computer magazines – there are plenty of great reviews about the best backup software to buy.
Backups are not just for large corporates they are a business necessity. If you aren’t’ already, start backing up today.
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