Research from government departments shows that, of the companies that lose their data (customer records, financial information etc.,) most tend to go out of business within 18 months. Since it can take up to 12 months to de register a company, most go out of business very quickly indeed. Could it happen to you?

It is not as rare as you think. Disasters do happen and not for the reasons you may think. Floods, fire, deliberate acts of sabotage perhaps from a disgruntled former employee, hackers, computer viruses or simply major technical failure can all be instrumental in sending you out of business. But this not need be so. Simple good housekeeping and best practice can keep your data intact and your business growing.

So what do I back up and how often? A simple rule of thumb is to back up any data that is difficult to replace. Customer records, databases, payroll and financial accounts are all examples of what needs to be backed up. You may also consider backing up any important or bespoke programmes that you need to run your business. Backup should be carried out every single day and to make absolutely certain, the backups should be removed from site so that any catastrophe befalling the site does not affect your records. Backups should be made to CD, DVD or tape and safest practice is to use a different disk or tape each day. This ensures that you have the very latest copy of your database and other documents to hand every day.

Some people use hardware or removable hard drives to make a mirror copy of the operational hard drive. You can then select which files to backup and the task is automatically performed on a regular basis. The downside of this is that it can be destroyed by fire, flood etc unless the removable drive is removed and stored elsewhere overnight. However this has the benefit of being able to plug the removable hard drive into any other suitable computer and you are back up and running quickly.

Finally there are an increasing number of companies consider an Internet backup solution. There are many internet based companies that will store your data for you, for a monthly fee. You can run the backup automatically.

File backup is an essential practice in modern companies that want to prosper and grow. Not backing up means that one day you might join the many business that have gone to the wall for the sake of an extra few minutes work.

Bob Francis is an experienced business consultant spending most of his time helping clients with sales and marketing issues. His expertise lies primarily in strategy, sales and marketing and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing. He is an expert at sales performance measurement and improvement.

For a free business health check please go to http://www.abio.ltd.uk and he can be contacted at bob@abio.ltd.uk