Insulating Your SME From Data Loss & System Outages With Or Without A Network Support Company

As the General Manager at DataFocus a Network Support Company in South Florida, I interact with a lot of business executives on a day to day basis. Unfortunately for some, I meet them when they are having a very bad day; usually because their systems are down and we are there to get them up and running again. After solving their issue, which ends up costing that business thousands by the way, they are always appreciative and I always get the same question. “What do I have to do to make sure that this doesn′t happen again?” My answer is always the same and I am going to share that with you today.

The truth is that there is no single thing you can do to make your business’ technology infrastructure never fail and neither can an IT Support Company. Even if you spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on a fault tolerant infrastructure, your system could still fail without appropriate management and maintenance. The truth is you can effectively mitigate your business’ risk of system downtime and data loss using 3 guidelines. Do these with or without the help of an IT services Company.

1. Have a Backup & Disaster Recovery Plan. This is the most important way to protect your business from closing down after complete loss of data. Can you imagine losing all of the work that you and your employees have done for the last 6 months? How about 6 years? It is important to remember that there are many things that can cause data loss and system downtime including a Network Support Company. Protecting against all of them is difficult and costly, so by having a good backup plan in place you can save your business tens of thousands of dollars in the case of an emergency. As for frequency of backups, base it on how much data you can afford to lose. If you can′t afford to lose any, back up every day.

2. Run Operating System & Application updates on a weekly basis. Vulnerabilities are found everyday in the operating systems and applications that you use to run your business. Here is today’s situation: an update is released and there is a press release telling the world about the problem that it is fixing. The hackers of the world know that most small organizations do not have an effective update policy in place. Even novice hackers can target these companies easily; they already told them how to do it in the press release! By not ensuring that all the applications on your network are continuously updated with the most recent fixes, you are leaving your business vulnerable to data loss and system downtime.

3. Develop Security Policies for your employees. By defining and securing employee access, you can protect your business from loss of data and system outages. No matter how much you do to protect your business from external threats, an employee with access can do more damage than most outsiders ever could. Think about this – does every employee need to be able to access every file on every shared folder? Are they currently allowed to in your business?

In closing, remember to have a good backup plan in place, run Application updates, and train your employees. If you do not have time, you can hire an IT services Company to assist you. Simply verify their credentials and certifications before you hire them. If you follow these three guidelines, you will be able to drastically minimize the risk of data loss and system downtime in your business.

DataFocus is a Computer Network Support Company servicing businesses in the United States & the Americas. We can help your organization create an effective Backup & Disaster Recovery plan, implement a comprehensive security policy and manage an effective update management policy. Click here to visit our website.