Data is as valuable as cash to any retail business yet many do not treat data with respect. Our advice to small business retailers is to get real about data, to get serious about protecting this important asses.
In terms of protecting your business data against disaster, here is our most important advice:
- Backup your business data every day, at the end of the day, without fail.
- Better still: use a cloud based backup service that undertakes the backup as the day unfolds without you having to every do anything to backup.
- Maintain a separate backup for each day of the week.
- Remove the backup from the business property.
- Store the backup in a safe, dry place.
- Check the usefulness of the backup by restoring and checking the data.
- Store original business software in a safe off-site location.
- Check the backup every three to six months – to make sure the backup is actually backing us current data and can be read. A backup you cannot read is a waste of time and money.
- Change your passwords regularly.
- Use hard to crack passwords.
- Do not share passwords widely.
