Tony Passwater 
Bad Risks Cause Wasted Costs
An Area Collision Shop Owners Almost Never Think About
Of course, it will never happen to you … right? But those that it has, know how much it costs in money, time, and frustrations when it does… and they were not prepared when it happened.
What am I referring to? I am talking about when your computer system crashes, you accidentally delete an important file, you get a “Ransomware Virus”, or someone sabotages your data. These things happen regularly, and when they do, it can be devastating and sometimes not recoverable.
This small area of your business can essentially bring it down or minimally cause you losses you simply should never be exposed to. However, most collision shop owners never think about the consequences until it actually happens.
There are hundreds of solutions for this possible catastrophe, but where do you start?
The Old Way Never Worked
In the past, we intended to use Tape Backup Systems, thumb drive transfers, and other hardware options that often were not kept up diligently. At the time of need … no current backup was available.
This system relied on someone to perform as scheduled, and most importantly, take the backup media off-site after every backup so that in case of a fire or theft of your system, your data was safe.
Let’s face it … who is diligent enough to do this as scheduled every single day? No one!
Cheap is Not the Best Option
If you Google “Backup Options”, there are hundreds of options and companies that provide a wide range of products and services.
There are systems that use “appliances” that act like the tape backup units, backing up the data almost in real-time, and then transferring it to an online storage area. These systems are usually very expensive and are designed for much larger data processing companies rather than typical collision repair shops worldwide.
In recent years, companies like Google and even Microsoft have created online storage space programs such as Google Drive and OneDrive. Unfortunately, these systems are “real-time transfer programs” that are known to slow your whole system down due to the bandwidth they require along with the processing load.
Then there are the low-cost providers of online storage space that take very long to sync every evening. Many of these can act like the “real-time” models with the same issues of slowing down your systems. They also can be configured to operate at night as well. However, you are completely on your own when there is a loss and you need recovery assistance.
What we have found to be the best approach is to provide a solution that not only backs up very efficiently every evening, but also includes the active service to restore your data when you need it.
Critical Backup Solutions
Several years ago, we found that our clients were taking risks of losing their critical data that just should not be happening. We also found that when they did have a loss, they often did not have any idea how to restore their backup data, or where to begin.
Our solution incorporates not only a clean software solution, but a persistent monitoring process as well as a restoration team even if it is just to recover a single accidentally deleted file.
We Handle Everything For You:
- ✓ **Centralized Backups**: We centralize all critical data to be backed up cleanly every single evening.
- ✓ **Active Monitoring**: We monitor the backups every day and send messages confirming their completion.
- ✓ **Multi-Version Recovery**: If needed, we assist in the restoration of single files (7 historical versions saved) up to complete system loss restoration.
- ✓ **Automated Execution**: Quiet, automated, and extremely fast backups running in the evening.
Don’t Make the Mistake that Costs
The risk of losing, corrupting, or accidentally deleting important documents, images, accounting databases, program settings, and a host of other key files is simply not worth it.
In Review:
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There are hundreds of cloud products out there… but almost no services that active monitor and physically assist you during data recovery. -
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Real-time syncing systems are known to slow down desktop performance excessively. -
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Centralizing critical data directory paths is essential to keeping backups highly efficient. -
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The immediate risk of catastrophic data loss is infinitely greater than the low cost of premium prevention.
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We also have a free self-help site with helpful procedures and videos at: **QbHelp.us**
Thank You and I look forward in sharing small business and QuickBooks Tips and Tricks with you in the future …
