Things happen. It seems that the worst things happen at exactly the worst times too. While we have no control over natural disasters, we do have control over how prepared we can be.
Office Depot recently released the results of a national survey in which 40% of small businesses profess they are not ready for a potential disaster.
Jon Toigo, a disaster recovery expert of Toigo Partners International, said:
"Small-business owners have an inflated idea of what the cost is going to be, or the complexity."
The good news is that most of the time small business owners estimate unrealistic costs. It's actually easier for a small business to prepare for a disaster than it is for a large corporation.
The two primary assets for a small business are its employees and its data. Each employee should have a specific task to conduct in the event of a disaster. Also, each employee should have several ways to reach every other employee so the communication line will always stay open.
If you were not doing it already, it would be wise to back up your data. Backing up your files on a USB flash drive is an inexpensive method to secure your data.
For more methods and information on how to prepare for a disaster, check out the SmallBusinessNewz video.
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Comments
Another inexpensive backup solution
Great article Abby! I'm always amazed by how many small business owners don't have a system for regularly backing up their data. You only have to have your hard drive go on the fritz once to realize that's a hell you never want to visit again.
However, not everyone can fit their critical data on a thumb drive (that'd be me, for one), or remember to back up regularly. And external hard drives can die too (been there done that). My solution has been to use a virtual back up system called Mozy Pro (mozypro.com). It's amazingly inexpensive--I think I pay less than $20/month to back up about 25gb of data. It looks like just another drive on my system so I can easily access the data at any time. But best of all, you can set it to run automatically!
Mine backs up anytime my computer sits idle for 10 minutes, plus does at least one scheduled backup everyday. I love sitting down at the computer and seeing the little box that says my files are backed up. And boy was it a lifesaver when my last computer started randomly erasing client files!!
They have another version called Mozy (mozy.com) for personal use too. Try either one and get ready to breathe a sigh of relief. :-)
Stacy
Yes it's amazing how small
Yes it's amazing how small businesses neglect to invest very a little amount money for a backup solution that could litterally keep them opened in case something was to happen...
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