Imagine you have just signed a contract that puts your business in a lucrative position. You’re in a strong healthy B2B relationship and it seems like you have started a road to a long partnership. However, a couple of weeks later you begin seeing signs that the other party isn’t living up to their obligations. You’re about to say something to them but you can’t find your contract. In the commotion of a fantastic deal, the virtual copy of the contract was lost. It was mistakenly deleted or lost due to a hardware malfunction. Now you wish you had doubled up and saved the contract somewhere else, where employees and outside forces could not get to it. Doubling up sounds simple, but there is a concerted way to do it right and procedures which you should follow whenever saving and or accessing your second copy.
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A four-way approach
Whatever kind of important document you have, you should make three copies of it, not two. First, the copy which you will use day to day can be saved on your local network. This will allow employees to reference it if they need to and it will get them familiar with what they can and cannot do with regards to the contract terms and conditions. The second copy should be on your personal hardware, i.e. a hard drive which you keep at home or in your office. It’s hardly ever used but when plugged in, it gives you access to your most important documents. The third copy should be a physical hard copy, which again, you either keep at home or in your office. The final copy should be in a data backup service. You should visit quicktech.ca which provides exactly this kind of service, using off-site hosting servers.
What needs to be protected?
‘Important document’ could be anything as it’s a pretty subjective term. However, the general consensus for what constitutes an important document is quite simple. A contract of any kind automatically qualifies. Emails with threats of physical or legal action must be saved in case you need to refer back to them in the future. Annual financial reports are definitely high up on the list of important documents, as they pretty much explain the health of your business. Employee profiles need protection as they will often come with medical record history. Coercive behavior from an individual, company, regulating body or an authority figure, trying to get you involved in a scam is something you will want firm proof of before you head to the police. If you have made a large purchase, you’ll want to save your invoice just in case you want a refund or proof of purchase.
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Clipboards and ties
You will want to make multiple copies of your taxes as a business, as you cannot rely on the government to keep a hold of your taxes when filed. It’s not uncommon for tax papers to get lost and then the IRS believes you’re trying to hide something. You can always resend them as soon as possible even if one saving method is not active.
Doubling up is in your best interest as a business. For certain key documents, you need extra protection.
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