If you've ever had a malware attack, then you may know how important backups can be.
Since most office workers now work from home, your business's IT system might be missing an important piece of the IT security stack.
In this piece, we'll talk about a quick fix you can use to make sure your files are backed up, as well as a longer-term solution.
Many small businesses have a backup plan that depends on the fact that most office workers are at work. This could be a cloud backup that automates file replication, so that if something goes wrong in the office, your data will still be safe.
But many of these methods only work if you are saving documents to a server at the office where the backup is done. When you work from home, the first thing you should ask your present IT provider is if your desktop, documents, and files that you save locally on your laptop or computer are backed up.
If some or all of your files aren't being backed up, you can quickly fix the problem by using Microsoft OneDrive, Dropbox Business, or Google Drive.
When using these methods, when you save your works to a local folder, they will be backed up to the cloud automatically.
When you sign up for one of these services you also can also view your files from any device with the right app. Most of these services also include a version history. If you make a mistake or want to look back at changes, you can use the version history to keep track of these changes.
If you work for an organization, be sure that you use the company business plan instead of a personal plan. This allows your work to be easily shared within your team and allows for central consolidation of company data. Services such as Dropbox allow you to have both a personal account and work account on the same computer and allow you to keep them separated.
But you should know that this is not a real backup plan. You must save the files in the right place on your machine. Also, not all data is saved in the cloud, so if your computer fails because of a hardware or security breach, then you could still be in a rough place. Your IT company should be able to help you with this.