The following article appeared in the July, 2006 edition of the Baltimore County Chamber of Commerce magazine.

Reliably Retrieving Business Information

The ability to retrieve and use information is critical to business success.  Lost information costs time and money.  Data can be destroyed in a disaster (manmade, natural, computer) or simply not retrievable from some unknown region of a large computer hard drive.  Here are two strategies to reduce your business risk.

Your critical business information is going to be lost or destroyed.  The only unknown is when.  Be prepared and your business will survive.  Back up computer files regularly and copy or scan all important paper documents.  Store the backups/copies offsite.  There are several computer backup options.  Backup files to CD/DVDs, external hard drives or online services.  Ask your computer support professional to set up the process if you don’t know how.

Knowing a file is safe on your hard drive is not reassuring when you can’t find the file.  The key to quick document retrieval is a hierarchy of folders and sub folders structured to mimic the way you do business.  Create a filing hierarchy within My Documents (for non networked Windows computers) and make sure everyone in the business adheres to it.  If you have more than one business, your first level might consist of business names.  Under each name create folders for major categories such as Customers, Suppliers, Procedures, Marketing etc.  Create sub folders under each to further organize your files.

Plan, implement and maintain your backup and filing strategies.  You will reduce the risk of losing time, money and possibly your business.