Small Business Information |
|
Data Loss - Can Your Company Survive? (Most Do Not)
Data. Most people think it is a term relegated to the kingdom of geeks. However, in todays world your data is your life. Chances are every piece of data you might ever rely upon to make an important decision has been reduced to a digital format and resides somewhere on your computer's hard drive. Improved functionality and productivity are the benefits. However, on the flipside one wrong click, one nasty virus, one untimely power surge or unhappy employee and that data is gone forever! Data loss can cost your company uncountable hours in lost productivity and revenue. In addition to the direct loss of a potentially unlimited amount of data (and the payroll hours that it took to generate that data) your company's business and potential to generate revenue can also be crippled by even the most minimal of data-destroying meltdowns. Imagine the loss of productivity that would occur if your accounting department suffered the loss of all of their files. In fact, 20 megabytes of accounting data takes 21 days and costs $19,000 to reproduce. Among companies who lose data in a disaster, 50% never re-open and 90% are out of business within two years! Payroll files, tax data, and budgetary datasheets are just a handful of the hundreds of types of data that are generated by a modern day accounting department. Most companies employ entire departments of professionals just to take care of this fundamental chore that is so integral to the success of any company no matter what the size or earnings bracket. Now imagine one months work for this department vanishing in the blink of an eye. Now imagine six months work pulling the same vanishing act. It's enough to make even the most thick-skinned CFO cringe at the thought of it. Now imagine there is a way to minimize or even eradicate this potentially enterprise threatening series of unfortunate events. Actually, you don't have to imagine it, because it already exists right now. It's called an online backup solution and it's the key to the success of any company that relies even moderately on information technology. If your company generates even the most modest amount of computer data on a regular basis your IT department should certainly consider employing the use of an online backup partner. Having access to your data at all times can mean the difference between an absolute failure and a resounding success in the business world. Your company is only as secure as the data it generates, so if your company depends on access to its information under any circumstances, an online backup solution will play a key role in ensuring that access. There is no substitute for the protection secure backup storage can provide every business, from tiny startups to the multinational enterprise, secure online backups are making sure today's business is prepared for anything that happens tomorrow and beyond. Your DATA is your LIFE! Protect it! Copyright 2004 Harald Anderson About The Author Harald Anderson is a freelance writer and webmaster for http://www.online-remote-data-backup.com an online backup service. Experience the Digital Peace of Mind that safe, secure, encrypted online data backups can offer. Online Backups.
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Make Your Business More Profitable More sales and more profit. Isn't that what you want from your business? It's not hard to achieve if you follow these 4 simple tips. Cash Flow: Why Chaos Equals Poor Cash Flow Recently one of my customers told me the chaos swirling through his company was the result of poor cash flow. If only he had more money, his company would run better. Small Business - Is The Accounting Profession Ripping Them Off? My 16 year-old daughter said, "Gee Dad! You look just like an accountant" And she wasn't being complimentary. Accountants are perceived to be boring, stodgy and conservative. Over the years we've been the butt of many jokes. I've heard them all. Why did the accountant cross the road? Because he looked up the file and that's what they did last year! Ha Ha! What do accountants use as a contraceptive? Their personality! Ha Ha!" Why do accountants become accountants? They don't have the charisma to be undertakers! Ha Ha! What do they call an accountant at the bottom of the sea? A bloody good start! Ha Ha! I think I am the exception. That's why I've begun to call myself a business strategist and counselor. "You're still an accountant," says teenage daughter. I am still an accountant and I'm still as passionate about it as the day I started. Because accountants have an impact on people's lives. The advice we give changes people's businesses which in turn changes their lives. I'm excited in my role of accountant. Accounting is not stodgy. Accounting is exciting. Accounting is cool! My ambition is to become the "cool dude of accounting". (do they still say "dude", do they still say "cool". Remember that song: When I say, "cool, man, cool, I don't mean cool, man, cool, I mean you leave me cold, Jack") We were throwing some ideas around with some of our clients as we do from time to time, looking for that unique benefit that our firm gives to our clients. That unique something that distinguishes us from other accounting practices. One said, "You have helped me to improve my business. Not only am I making more profits and have more to spend, but I also have more time to spend away from the business. The more time I spend at home with my family the happier my life is. And the happier I am the happier my wife and children seem to be. When my wife is happy all sorts of good things happen ? even our sex life improves. That's it! You can advertise that using Kelvyn Peters CPA and Associates improves your sex life" I don't think so! Sorry, we haven't accepted his idea. You're completely on your own in that department, but we can help you improve your business and consequently your life. And your goal might not be extra profit but extra time for living! We know we can because we are doing it for others. We repeat ourselves so often because the truth is the truth and there is only a limited number of ways to tell it. You've heard this before. If you are spending every waking moment in a hassle about your business, there must be a better way. There is! Accountants have been ripping off their clients for years In 1973 I attended a workshop for accountants at the Finance Management Research Center then headed by Dr Keith Cleland. The workshop was intended to drag participants into the 20th century. "Accountants have been ripping off their clients for years", he told us. The 25 participants were shocked. These represented vibrant accounting firms from all around Australia, both large firms and small. They were at the cutting edge of the industry. Otherwise they would not have been at this kind of workshop. To a person they resented that comment and one fellow wanted to punch him on the nose. (It wasn't me, but I would have held his coat). By the week's end we discovered how we were charging high fees for things that our clients couldn't understand, couldn't use and didn't need. At the same time we were neglecting the information that they did need to increase their profits and safeguard their businesses. 20 Years Later what's Changed? I attended a week long seminar hosted by CPA Australia in 1993 which was to train us in "client based accounting". Dr Cleland presented the initial module. He did not openly criticize accountants this time, after all, it was the CPA's hosting it, but he gave almost the same speech (same jokes, too) as he had 20 years before. "These things aren't taught in Universities", he said, "so the accounting profession has mostly ignored them. They have let small business down but things are changing". Know-it-all, Kelvyn Peters had to jump to his feet and say that the doctor had said exactly the same thing 20 years ago. Where were the signs of change? Universities were still not teaching accountants how to help their clients. "This seminar with CPA Australia and the suggestion they might make client based accounting a speciality is a good sign", he replied. 10 Years Later? Nothing has changed. Our hopes have withered on the vine and small business must look elsewhere for help. Recently I was called in to assist an ailing restaurant. We were happy to work with their existing accountant. We'd rather do the fun stuff and let the accountant do the boring tax returns and compliance work. In this case the client insisted we take over the whole of the accounting function. The accountant was most unhappy. "They are difficult clients", he said, "I have kept the fee lower than it should be and I have done extra to help them". Indeed, he had! The financial statements were beautiful to behold with colored graphs and key ratios compared against industry average. (most accountants still don't do that. I had advised that both wages costs and cost of foodstuffs were too high. Our focus was to form tactics to reduce them. "But I had already told them that", said the Accountant, "what do they need you for?' I told him that the client knew the kitchen wages were too high and what he wanted was for someone to show them how to reduce the wages in the kitchen. "I can't do that", he said, "I'm an accountant". I would have to camp down there in the restaurant to see what's going on. And they wouldn't pay the fee". Yes they would. They were going to pay me. Most accountants see their role as being the provider of financial statements, cash-flow projections and tax returns, and there's the rub. Each of these is a tool not an end in itself. It's like giving the client a hammer and saw and telling him to go build a house. He needs more than the tools, he needs to be shown how to use them. Of course the client will complain about fees whatever the level if all he receives are not useful to him. Accountants generally are flat out preparing financial statements and tax returns. Meeting dead-lines. They haven't the time to 'smell the roses'. Anything that doesn't help meet a dead-line has to wait until later. Often its too late. I may still look like an accountant, even the cool dude of accounting, but there is nothing I like more than talking with a business owner about his business. There's nothing a business owner likes more than discussing his business and planning to make more money. It's great fun and he loves to pay me for it. A Business Plan Is Not Worth A Cracker To A Struggling Business - A Plans The Last Thing It Needs Before you start a business we encourage you to prepare a business plan. Without it your business has a 92% chance of failing within the first 12 months. Sometimes your business plan tells you that you should not go into business at all! If You Want to Work from Home Here are some important points to take note of if you want to work from home. working from home is a dream occupation for many people, but only a few of us will dare to trudge that path. As long as you keep to your basic principles, keep focused, learn how to motivate yourself, be patient and learn how to manage your time properly, you CAN have the best of both worlds. Three Big Barriers To Small Business Marketing Success When you feel like you're always busy working on your business, but not getting where you want to go, it can be frustrating trying to figure out how to get your marketing on track. It can easily become a "not seeing the forest for the trees" feeling. Keeping a Partnership ALIVE and THRIVING What are the best methods for keeping a good business relationship? In Home Daycare Businesses for Profit To have one of the popular in home daycare businesses. Many people think all you have to do is love kids and have a home. But to have a successful daycare business, it takes a little more than that. Actually, it takes a lot more. Self-Employment: Do you know the Difference between Rates and Wages The difference between rates and wages is not always clear to newly self-employed people and their wage-earning clients. Age Old Marketing Technique Improves Business Plan Executive Summaries Every business plan book tells you how the Executive Summary is your opportunity to provide a brief overview of your business plan; capture your readers' attention and imagination; and, summarize the plan's highlights and key selling points. Hispanic Small Business Advantage One thing I have noticed in my travels to different markets is that Hispanic Small Business Owners have a very distinct advantage. They are friendly and very involved in their communities. Hispanic Business Men and Women are very socially active and if you look at their incredible unity, there is nothing slowing down this Hispanic Middle class from becoming upper classmen. They are incredible relationship builders and smart and savvy business people. Just look at the number of organizations propelling their simultaneous hard work ethics: How To Plant Seeds of Success With Small Business Ideas Think of all of your business ideas as tiny seeds that have the potential to germinate and grow into huge fruit bearing orchards! However, the proper steps must be taken; you can't scatter the seeds haphazardly on pavement and expect they will germinate. Growing a business is no different; it needs a fertile environment conducive to growth in order to germinate and thrive. Seedlings needs protection from the wind and rain when young, and can withstand hurricane force winds when mature. A business is no different. The strongest businesses are started as a small idea in the mind of an entrepreneur. The idea is then cultivated, nurtured, planted and cared for. It just didn't start out as a large orchard! Small Businesses With Work Trucks; A Warning If you are a non-operator owner of many work trucks, you should keep your business credit card with you not leave it in one of the trucks. You should not issue them to employees without strict guidlines. Employees may tend to abuse credit cards by buying things that are not an emergency such as tires that are over priced instead of simply plugging a hole in a flat or spraying fix-a flat into the valve stem. Covenants Not To Compete: Another Franchise Quandary Imagine that you have operated a successful franchise business for the past several years. Your franchise agreement's term expires in the near future and you are contemplating whether renewing the agreement would be a wise business decision. In the past couple of years it has become all too apparent that you are receiving little, if any, benefit or assistance from your franchisor. Yet, you continue to pay the franchisor thousands of dollars each year in royalties and other fees. You therefore decide that it would make better "business sense" to operate independently after expiration of your franchise term. After all, you are very familiar with the business and have worked extremely hard in developing and establishing a solid client base to enable you to continue running a profitable and prosperous operation. 3.5 Million People And A Possible UK Home Business Opportunity Has this ever happened to you... 'John, you have a lot of mail this morning dear'. Stunned as a goldfish you walk over to the kitchen table and pick up the envelopes. Each one is a quality envelope that has an address label with your name on it. You flick through them and the labels are more or less identical. You open one, then another and you can then start to feel what the others are about. More UK home business opportunity! Why is My Restaurant Not Full Every Monday Night? In a quest for customers and to keep those customers, restaurants are now compelled to develop a marketing plan. Marketing plans are a crucial component for anyone who has the desire to make their restaurant a success. How to Remove Stress from Owning a Business... Forever! I meet and talk to hundreds and hundreds of business owners every year and do you know what I've discovered? Virtually all of them are regularly suffering from stress. New Habits, Rebounding Economy Help To Sell Giftware and Collectibles Just a few years ago, when one thought of a home-based sales business, Tupperware, Avon and a host of multi-level marketing schemes might have come to mind. Today, however, changing market conditions and evolving consumer habits have converged to make home-based selling businesses a realistic opportunity with real profit potential. How to Give Informative Talks Why should you do informative talks to smaller groups? Power Tools for Business How do we keep track of our business deals? |
home | site map |
© 2005 |