I know backing up my files is important but I'm not sure how important it really is.

          A back up is intended to prevent you from losing your business critical data. Sooner or later, you will loose the data on your computer. The computer's hard disk will crash, an accident will happen, or something such as a severe virus will come along. To assess how important your data is, make a list of all the information you use on your computer. Examples include: customer data, financial information, contact information, letters, company collateral or even recordings. When the list is complete use it to answer the following questions:

   Would your business be able to run without the data?
   Is the data replaceable and what effort would it take to replace it?
   Is it used for strategic planning?
   Are you under any customer obligation to retain information?
   Are you under any legal requirements to retain the information?

          Backing up your data is the only way to protect yourself from all the possible ways you can loose your business data.

Return to: Index of Questions answered by Ted Werth of PlumChoice, Inc:

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          Ted Werth is a computer professional with twenty years of experience in data communications and the Internet. He owns PlumChoice, Inc., a computers service firm with headquarters in Billerica, MA. Please send questions for this column to:

Ted Werth

Email: twerth@plumchoice.com
Telephone: 888.758.6435

PlumChoice, Inc.
PlumChoice Online PC Services
5 Federal St., 3^rd floor
Billerica, MA 01821

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URL: http://www.businessforum.com/plumchoice(003).html
Revised: December 14, 2007 TAF

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