Businesses rely on technology a lot more than they may believe. That is, of course, until their main office loses power for a week and they don't have a backup plan in place. It doesn't even have to be that dramatic though. If data is only stored on one computer and the hard drive crashes, that data is lost. From tornadoes to short circuits, a company can buy all the insurance policies it wants, but there's no way to salvage data from unrepairable hardware or mend relationships with indignant customers.
In an article for Smart Business Network, Zack Schuler, CEO of Cal Net Technology Group, explained that there are a lot of different ways businesses can falter following a catastrophe. While there are plenty of good methods to stay prepared, there are some poor ones as well.
He referenced one company that had intelligently backed up its servers on tapes daily, which twere stored in the same facility. So when the building went up in flames, both the primary servers and their backups were destroyed, making the business's protective measures obsolete.
Schuler said that businesses can protect themselves from lengthy internet downtime, by having a backup connection in place. In other words, if the office connects primarily through a DSL provider, it should also have a cable connection in place that can be used as an alternate medium to access the web.
To prepare for a complete loss of access to the facility due to a natural disaster or even just a power outage, he suggests implementing a system where employees can communicate with each other and access databases off-site.
If you're worried about protecting your business's data when faced with a similar dilemma, talk to a FileMaker consultant who can explain how FileMaker database software can be optimized for remote access.