A natural consequence of this situation is that enormous amounts of very valuable data are stored on computers. And as we all well know, computers tend to die from time to time. For every business that is using Web as a revenue-generating channel, their data is an important company asset. The loss of a customer order database could be devastating to a business, leading to unfulfilled orders, dissatisfied customers and loss of touch with thousands of clients. Depending on one computer alone, death-prone machines that they are, is a formula for disaster.

Since it is pretty self-evident that preventing loss of all of a business’ orders and customer information is an important task, why is it that backup solutions are among lowest priorities of most businesses shopping for Web hosting?

Backups could be compared to life insurance policies for your Web operation, but they are really something more. Quality backups are like a life insurance plan that would resurrect you if you passed away, rather than simply grant your loved ones some monetary assistance.

Like a Web hosting plan, backup solution should be chosen appropriately with what company is doing on Web. Businesses running small brochure Web sites will need most modest sort of backups; however businesses collecting data from customers and prospects through Web need very reliable backup solutions. The acid test for a backup plan is whether it provides means to restore your site to a fully operational condition within one hour after a server crash.

A modest backup suitable for a brochure-style site can consist of simply keeping a spare copy of all of files on a separate computer. If site is such that visitors do not submit to any databases or add any content, then this type of backup is perfect. Certainly, a basic brochure site could be restored very quickly with this type of backup.

Nowadays, stealing data is commonplace and anyone can become a victim at any time. The person standing in line behind you might be running a profitable side business stealing other peoples’ sensitive data. The reality is, however, that “inside” jobs are most common when discussing business data theft.

Instead of looking through crowds trying to pick out law breakers, and instead of spending boatloads of money conducting thorough background checks on all those whom you encounter in your business, it’s easier to simply protect your data from prying eyes and malicious intentions.

Easier, yes. But protecting company data isn’t something that many small business owners do. Into their computer programs they input their products and pricing, their vendors, their EINs and TINs, their checking account numbers, email addresses of family members, their proprietary information, their marketing plans and formulas – everything goes into computer.

What’s worse is when a business owner stores this type of information on a laptop computer, an item especially vulnerable to theft. Someone stealing laptops probably could care less about information that is stored on them, but why take that risk. If you’re going to protect your sensitive company data, it’s all or nothing.

And protecting data is definitely your responsibility if you are an accountant or you specialize in other types of financial businesses. Your clients assume you are protecting their financial documents and their other sensitive records. But are you? Kudos to you, if you are. If you are not, you better take this issue seriously right now, before damage occurs.