Recently we at KDI were doing some EDI setup work for a client. It was on the weekend because that’s when we’d minimize disruption. We were remotely logged into the client’s AS/400 server when a real disruption occurred: the warning came up that one of the hard drives that had been chugging along for 11 years had failed.

This wasn’t a fire, flood or earthquake—in fact, it rarely is—but it was critical nonetheless. We called the client, arranged for the IBM representative to be on site with a new hard drive first thing Monday morning, moved the backed up files over and minimized downtime to just a few hours.

Without the backed up files, our client would not have been able to do any business requiring the data that had been on their AS/400. Accounting, production, HR—it would have all been gone.

Could your business survive losing your computerized data? Your specs, your billings, your sales records? Most could not. Independent studies repeatedly show that well over half of all companies that lose their data fail within six months.

We don’t say you should worry too much about the big disasters: they’re not that likely to happen. But hardware failure, or human error—those you’re likely to encounter. And when you do, the best way to ensure business continuity and get things back up and running quick is to have an offsite file backup system in place.

To see an example of an effective offsite file backup system, click here.

KDI is a professional IT practice assisting North American clients take advantage of new business opportunities, improve their cashflow, reduce operational expenses, and protect their data and people on the Internet. Click here for more information.