As the old joke goes, "Welcome to the Department of Redundancy Department. Right this way, right this way." Why is redundancy important to you?
Irreplaceable Data
Our lifeblood is the the H2D _software programming code. If we lost that, our entire operation would be kaput. We would have nothing left. Scary thought, right? What about your practice? What happens if you lose years of patient data, not to mention office management data (accounting records, employee files, etc.)?
Many Ways to Lose Your Data
Thanks to technological advances, there are many ways to store your records on electronic mediums; however that means there are an equal number of ways to lose your data.
Hackers are increasingly attacking computers. This past summer there were several Ransomware attacks. This kind of attack holds the entire contents of your hard drive hostage until you pay up. Even then, the hackers don't always give you the code that removes the encryption from your data.
There is also plain, old fashioned hard drive failure. How many of us have experienced the Blue Screen of Death? That terrible sinking feeling that goes with it? The despair of losing everything you stored on the computer?
What You Can Do
The short answer - you can't always save your files from being destroyed. Things happen. What you can do is employ a ... wait for it.... redundancy protocol in your office procedures. This means you have a procedure that requires a routine copy (a backup) be made of your office records stored on any electronic device on an external source. An external source can be local such as an external hard drive, a flash drive, a CD/DVD, or it can be offsite such as a third party backup service provider or a secured cloud service.
What We Do
Our backup procedures have evolved as our software has grown. First, we started with weekly backup to a flash drive stored in a fire-proof safe. Then the backup became a daily procedure. As our software grew more complex, we needed a better solution. We shopped around and found Acronis was an excellent solution for us. Acronis is just one of many options available to you for creating a redundant copy (backup) of your data, and Acronis has several options to fit your needs. Check it out here.
Bottom Line
Create a redundancy protocol in your office procedures and enforce it. Your data is your livelihood and you cannot afford to lose it.