Sam went on holiday on the 18th of December and returned in the New Year.
He left in high spirits, with Christmas drawing near it was a time for him to relax.
Little did he know that his return to the office would not be as he left it.
Just after the New Year, Sam received a phone call telling him that the pipes froze and then burst, flooding the office.
The server was damaged along with his desk area and computer, amongst other things.
This was not how he intended to start the New Year.
Thankfully he had his files synced to cloud storage, so he could spend a few days working remotely.
But he knew it was time to change the company's backup and disaster plan so nothing like this could ever happen again.
What should you do before leaving the office for the Christmas & New Year break?
Here are three things to do before leaving the office, to minimise risk and reduce potential disaster recovery time.
Many businesses are now using cloud storage for important documents. This can be the most flexible and secure way to manage your files. It means they are accessible online, as well as being synced to a device or desktop.
Sometimes people work on devices and save documents locally. In the process they forget to sync these to their cloud drive, losing vital updates.
Make sure that all documents are synced to cloud storage, especially if you'll be leaving the office for an extended period.
Also, if for whatever reason, your hardware is damaged, recovering files stored only locally will be more difficult.
If you're using Autotask Workplace you can read our practical guide to syncing your files here.
If your business asks you to change your password regularly, the last thing you want is to be locked out of your account when you return to work.
For this reason, it may be wise a few days before you leave the office to reset your password.
Remember though, this is best done within the office. For information on how to do this in Windows 10, click here.
It's the end of the year and it is likely you will be busy with new tasks in the coming year.
Maybe there are confidential files from downloaded e-mails? Or maybe there are things you wanted to delete but just left in the downloads folder.
By clearing your downloads and recycle bin you get rid of unwanted files and also improve security, by simply pressing delete.
To mass delete the contents of those two folders, highlight all of the files by clicking Control + A and then press Delete.
If your business doesn't already have a tech team on hand that specialises in Backup and Disaster Recovery, you may need to rethink your disaster plans.
Anything can happen, which may affect your business from running, but the important thing is to ensure you can be up and running again in no time.
So why do lots of businesses not have a disaster recovery team on hand?
What does Netstar do differently?
Your business data can be continuously backed up on site AND to an off-site location. It is encrypted, monitored and protected with state of the art security features.
This means if disaster strikes you can continue working from your off-site data, whilst everything is being restored.
Our aim is to have you up and running again in 4 hours.
Additionally, the FCA imposes regulations regarding data and business continuity, capabilities and procedures. We will help you meet these.
If you want to know more about what we do then there's extra information here.
Alternatively, you can get in contact with us here to ask about the best disaster recovery plans for your business.