In 2005 a fire affected the Windsor Tower in Spain. In this tower the offices of several companies, including Delloite and law firm is located. The fire caused the loss of large amounts of information and documents, which put at risk thousands of legal proceedings by lawyers of these companies.
While Delloite had backed-up all their information in sites outside the building, the law firm kept its backups in the same offices. The result of this was that Delloite returned to normal quickly, while the law firm had to rely on other organisms in the Spanish government to recover many of their documents, which affected its operations. (See news- in Spanish)
The problem of losing information
Losing information, documents, pictures and music is always painful and cause serious complications. In the case of a business, the problems are even greater. Imagine for a moment that you lose your customer information, accounting, sales data, your order information, program codes, pictures, presentations and documents of your business, products and services.
Today, we have most of our information stored in digital form rather than paper. However, this has not reduced the risk of losing information and we are all prone to serious problems for not having backups of our files.
Almost everyone has lost information, and if this has not happened to you, almost certainly have at least heard someone say phrases like:
- I damaged the hard drive of the computer, now what do I do to retrieve information?
- I forgot a file at home (or office) that I need to finish a job.
- I left my external hard drive with important and confidential files.
- I lost my USB memory, where I was preparing data for my thesis.
- Someone stole my computer and I lost all my files and photos.
- I have to start again, I lost my all my papers and my time.
Losing information is not "something that will never happen". We are all exposed to this risk.
A study of Kroll Ontrack found that 27% of the companies worldwide agreed that their business was interrupted and affected services to its customers due to loss of information.
Most of the time (72%) losses were the result of failures on the hard drives of computers or laptops.
I guess in most computers there's information like the following:
- Business Ideas
- The business plan for their enterprise or company
- Contact information of customers, suppliers and investors.
- Company Budget
- Accounting business
- Information documents of their products and services
If any equipment you use in your business ventures or fails, how much would you lose? How would you retrieve this information? Could you keep running your business if you lose all your data? What would be the cost of this loss of information?
Entrepreneurship is not easy and takes time, so after a long work of months (or years) I do not think you want to lose your files and start from scratch.
Options to support information
To ensure continuity work or business you have several options:
Using external hard drives which support your information (budget option but matiene the risk of failure or you may lose)
Backup data in a data center (which is complex and expensive)
Using a data storage service in the cloud (easy to use, low cost)
Fortunately today there are several web services that provide space for you to store all kinds of information. These services cloud storage are easy to use, can be used for all kinds of devices and offer different plans and prices to choose from, to meet diverse requirements.
Where would my files if I use a cloud service?
The companies offering the service of virtual cloud storage feature large data centers where they store the information. These centers are located in several places in the world and have all the facilities and conditions to ensure the availability and security of data.
For example have large servers and infrastructure from hard drives, have power backup systems to ensure environmental conditions in the data center, fire systems, and security protocols to restrict, monitor and control the few people who enter to these places.
Sure you could create a small data center to have the data with you, but this involves building or adapting a room with electric power, backup power plant, air conditioning, buy servers, install servers, maintaining the whole infrastructure, hire staff to take charge of the operation and maintenance.
The list is long and high investment. For this reason, many companies have turned their eyes to cloud services to have a reliable place to store information.
Is it safe to leave my data in the cloud?
There are many web services around the Internet where you can get lots of space, like Dropbox, OneDrive, iCloud, Sugarsync, Box, or CX. However, before thinking much space, price, facilities, etc., you should only worry about one thing: the reliability of the company in which you deposit your information.
The information is of great value to you and your company. Do not want to leave it to any company, unreliable or did not know if will disappear overnight. Many people lost their documents when Megaupload was closed. Therefore, my recommendation is to look for a service from a company recognized internationally.
The three services I recommend to back up your information and avoid disaster
For every entrepreneur or small business owner, any of the three services I explain below them work. In my case, I use Dropbox because of habit and confidence but the other two options are similar in characteristics.
Dropbox
Dropbox offers 2GB of free space, with an option to grow to 16GB free if you do things like invite friends, install the application on your phone, post a tweet or use Dropbox to upload photos from your mobile phone.Dropbox can store all kinds of files, documents, photos, videos, and arrange to your liking using folders. Files or folders can be shared with others; it can be made public to anyone with the appropriate bond or indicating the email addresses of the people to whom you want to share files.
Dropbox can be used from any computer or mobile device. It has applications for Windows, Mac, Linux and smartphones and tablets. All files are synchronized, which means that any if you upload, delete or change a file, the changes are reflected in all other devices you use.
If you download the installer for your Mac or Windows computer will not have to enter the Dropbox website to upload or download files. With small application you can define a folder within your operating system. The kit works as a mirror of his own duty so only place files in this folder so that they are synchronized in your account and can be opened from any other device.
If the free space is not enough, for $ 9.99 a month you get 1TB (1000 GB) of space. It also offers a solution for businesses for $ 15 a month per user.
Advantages: easy to User defined, you can access your device from any device. Reliable and the most recognized Internet for file storage company.
Disadvantages: the solutions initially offered less space.
OneDrive
OneDrive is Microsoft's proposal for online file storage and offers 15GB of space for free. Previously this service was known as Skydrive.OneDrive is installed on your computer if you have Windows 8 or Windows 8.1, and is integrated with the version of Microsoft Office 2013. Thus, any document you make in Office can save it directly to OneDrive.
Like Dropbox, you can save all your files, videos and photos. All files can be shared with others.
It also offers applications for your computer, phone and tablet so you can access your files from anywhere, anytime.
An interesting feature is that OneDrive offers a reduced version of Word, Excel and PowerPoint applications you create or edit documents directly from the browser. For simple documents, it is an interesting and very useful alternative if you have the Office suite installed on your computer.
You can earn additional free space by configuring the photos on your phone are stored in OneDrive or recommended friends. If desired, you can pay USD $ 6.99 per month and have 1TB of space available. In addition to this allowance will receive a subscription to Office 365, which will have a legal copy to install the complete Office applications such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint files on your Windows PC or Mac.
For a business solution, offers a package of USD $ 5 per user and 1TB of space for everyone.
Advantages: integrated with Windows and Microsoft Office, which facilitates the storage and access to documents.
Disadvantages: if you are someone who prefers Apple products, this solution will maximize.
Google Drive
Google Drive is a proposal for file storage that offers 25GB of space for free. This space is shared between your files, your mail from Gmail and photos (before Picasa).Google Drive is integrated with Google Apps solution, the Google office solution. From Google Drive you can create documents, presentations, spreadsheets, drawings and surveys.
Like Dropbox and OneDrive, Google Drive allows you to access, upload or download files from any computer, phone or tablet. Files are automatically synchronized, so that changes are reflected instantly.
The desktop application allows you to set a folder to be used as a mirror of their own, and to store the files without going to the website.
If you need more space Google offers different pricing plans and space. If you want to 1TB of space must pay USD $ 9.99 per month, but can reach up to 30TB for a price of USD $ 299.99 per month.
Advantages: easy to use, offers a solution alternative to Microsoft Office office, and is the service that provides more space for free.
Disadvantages: unless some doubts regarding the privacy of your information and management that Google gives you, there are no major disadvantages in service.
With the arrival of Yosemite operating system for Mac, Apple also ventured harder on cloud storage for the operating system integrates naturally with iCloud Drive. However, when recently I have not used in detail as to recommend it yet.
Further Information
- Passwords: use a secure and strong password, avoid generic terms or use family names.
- Make backups in several places: since these services are free, you can try and use them simultaneously to have copies of your most important documents in all services. So in case of failure of one of them, you can always access your information.
- Trust your data safe only companies that offer strong support.
- Discuss the terms and conditions under which each service offered.
- If your company grows considerably or if the laws of your country is required to indicate the physical location of your backups, possibly must find a data center instead of using these services.
- External drives: if not yet convinced of using a cloud service, at least back up your data to an external hard drive. Amazon array of disks at good prices is achieved. Check the reviews of other buyers before deciding on one, and avoid buying discs that have problems for many buyers.
- Evernote: In previous publications explained on Evernote. You can also use this application to backup your most important files and access them from any device. Just make a note and attach the file or files you want to save. If you use Evernote Premium, you can also search within these files.
Finally and most importantly, if you do not use a service to support your information, start doing today! Do not wait for a problem to happen and lose your information.
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