Do you have a plan?
Small businesses face many threats. Without the backing of a large corporation or franchise, a team of hundreds of employees or the comfort of decades of experience, how can you protect yourself and your company?
The answer is to have a plan.
Why is it important to have a plan?
We all watched the news with a sense of dread this year as Fort McMurray residents were forced to flee an out-of-control wildfire. As much as we like to think that natural disasters and emergencies will never happen to us, seeing our neighbours in the west scramble to leave on roads chocked with smoke and ash was a real wake up call, especially since Fort McMurray is a very important hub for Canada’s energy industry.
Our hearts and minds went out to those that lost their homes, but many businesses were affected too. Some buildings had smoke and fire damage, others were completely destroyed.
If this were to happen to you, would you lose all of your customer information? Your human resources records? Your inventory lists? If your server was on site, and if your backups were on site, then that important information could be lost forever – and such a massive loss of information could prevent you from resuming operations.
How can you mitigate risks?
The best way for your business to bounce back after a disaster is to have a plan in place before the incident happens.
Think off all the things that could happen to your company:
- The loss of your biggest client
- The loss of key employees
- The loss of inventory
- The loss of your data
Assess each threat and make a plan. You may need to diversify your client base, cross train your employees, insure your inventory and move your data to the cloud.
Is the cloud safe?
The internal aspects, such as diversification and cross training, are things you can do as the CEO, but when it comes to the cloud, many small business owners are still confused. Just what is this cloud and why is it important? How do I use it? Is it safe?
The cloud is basically your computer server room – off site. It is your information technology hub located in a secure facility that is set up specifically to handle everything from earthquakes to terrorist attacks. Data sent to the servers in this facility is encrypted. In fact, the data encryption level is comparable to, if not better than, what you get with online banking.
You can share server space with other companies to save money, or you can have your own dedicated, private server on the cloud.
The important thing is, if disaster strikes your building, your digital data is safe and secure, enabling you to operate from a new facility and quickly recover your business.
We make getting on the cloud easy
If you are ready to move your entire digital operations to the cloud, contact a professional. They can get you set up and show you how to do your backups, etc. If you are a smaller company and just want to use the cloud for your accounting records, contact us.
Here at AF Accounting, we use the latest and cleanest technology: XERO. Not only do you get expert accounting advice, we make sure all your accounting records are backed up to the cloud. If the worst happens to your headquarters, your financial data is safe and sound.
Contact us to learn more.
