Imagine if your business was affected by an unforeseen event beyond your control, such as a flood or fire. Would important data like personnel files or customer information still be accessible? Would you be able to successfully rebuild your business and pick up where you left off? Here are some tips to help you protect your important business documentation:

• Start by determining which records are truly vital (essential for the survival of the organization), and how well your business maintains these vital records. According to the CPM Group’s “All Records Are Not Created Equal”, typically, vital records only make up about 5% of a business’ total recorded data, and include: contracts that prove ownership of property, equipment, vehicles and products; operational records such as unaudited accounting and tax records, personnel and payroll records, client account histories, and shipping deliver records; current client files; standard operating procedures; produced reports and summaries; and, software source codes and licenses.
• Develop a strategy to protect vital records by addressing some basic questions. How do you store important data? Is critical information stored as original single paper versions, or housed on one computer only? Or, do you make copies of all paper-only documents, and keep those in a reasonably safe location? How often do you back up your computer network or individual files? Do you maintain duplicates of important records off-site?
• Be conscientious in the documentation of your storage strategy – what each piece is, the date it was created, and where it is housed. This is information you will rely upon heavily should a disaster occur. If possible, take a copy of all vital records to store off-site at a secure storage facility, or in your home. Regularly save all vital computer files to a disk labelled with corresponding dates, and store outside your main location. Maintaining this electronic backup of your files could save you a lot of grief and many hours of re-work should your computer ever be destroyed.