You do not need to be technical, but you should know where your business data lives and what happens if it disappears.
The cloud, simply
The cloud is other people's computers that you rent over the internet: for your website, your email, your files and your accounting software.
What to keep where
- Website: on web hosting
- Documents and designs: on cloud drive storage
- Customer and order data: inside your shop, CRM or accounting system
The 3-2-1 backup rule
- 3 copies of anything important
- 2 different types of storage, for example your computer and a cloud drive
- 1 copy kept away from the main location
Back up the things people forget
- Original design and print files
- Your website files and database
- Customer lists and invoices
- Phone contacts and WhatsApp business data
Test a restore
A backup you have never tried to restore is a guess. Once a quarter, open a backup and make sure the files are there.
Protect the accounts
Use strong, different passwords and two-factor login on email and cloud accounts. Whoever controls your email controls everything else.
Know who owns what
Keep the login details for your domain, hosting and cloud accounts in your own name, written down somewhere safe.
See our Website Maintenance.
