Hardwood Floors December 2017/January 2018

TECHNOLOGY BUSINESS BEST PRACTICES

By Jodi O’Toole

Tech Resolutions for the New Year 5

Your Top

2. Backup data From customer addresses and photos to spreadsheets and QuickBooks les, lost information can be time-consuming – and sometimes even impossible – to rebuild. e e ort and cost of pro-actively backing up data will almost always be lower than recovering that data – trust me, I’ve been there. First, determine what needs to be backed up. Identify critical documents and business les needed to run the business. Examples include nancial/tax information, customer addresses, and business processes. Next, buy an external hard drive to store in your home or business. is is a signi cant rst step and a very cost-e ective method for backing up les. However, this only protects the les in certain situations such as accidental le deletion or corruption. O -site storage of les is be er in other cases such as re and natural disasters, so a combination of both these methods is suggested. I’ll dig a li le deeper into o -site (“cloud”) storage in resolution No. 3 below. To nd reputable companies to store your data, read reviews online and ask friends and business acquaintances for recommendations. Make sure you understand which les are backed up, how o en they are copied and how you go about recovering individual les or even your entire storage vault. 3. Embrace the cloud e most popular reasons “the cloud” has not yet been more widely adopted have to do with trust and control. However, I believe the real reason is that we don’t have clarity on how it works and what it can do for us. Simply put, cloud storage companies’ primary objective is to store data securely. ese companies relentlessly research best practices in security, server design, and networking. ey use redundant equipment, internet service, power (including ba ery backups and generators), backup air conditioners, and more. ey even backup data to multiple locations. Researching and choosing a cloud backup provider that works for your situation is important. Look for reviews from reputable news outlets and current customers (fromwebsites not owned by the

Photo by Craig Garner

Looking

back on 2017, no new glaring

technology trends have emerged. What can be found however is a reiteration of issues that have been around for some time, yet most of us cannot seem to avoid the negative consequences of them. We do have control over the outcomes of technology challenges though – if we choose to be proactive. It’s time to take back control of our technology. What follows are my top ve technology resolutions to help us do that in 2018. 1. Protect with passwords Passwords like “123456” and “password” still rank among the top passwords used. ere is no excuse for us to disregard protecting our digital identities with weak passwords like these. Here are reminders of password best practices: • Use 12+ characters • Use combinations of text, numbers, and special characters • Update passwords at least every 90 days • Never use personal information like birthdays or anniversaries • Keep passwords private, not written down or shared with others • Do not share passwords between logins. A breach of one site means other logins using that same password are now compromised. If this all sounds too challenging to manage, look into password managers which create and store all the complicated, varied passwords. I had skepticism about these applications until I admi ed that this solution is be er than any I could create. I certainly can’t follow all those best practices on my own. ese companies know a lot more about security than I ever will, plus, they’re evolving to meet new threats all the time. Research and read reviews of the top password managers. Don’t hesitate for a second to save your own identity.

38 hardwood floors www.hardwoodfloorsmag.com