DataLynk Solutions

Solutions for the life of your business!

QuickBooks

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Do You Believe In Having Insurance?

Insurance comes at a cost and it can be expensive.

Auto, life, health, liability, business, workers comp…it all adds up.  But, what if you could get insurance for nothing.   That’s right, you heard me, nothing, nada, zilch.  You probably don’t believe it, but it’s true.  I know I have, most of my client have jumped on it, and I’ll tell you how you can get free insurance too!

First, I have to tell you, I felt so bad last week when my client called.  One of their workstations got a virus that infected the server.  Their network support personnel were able to restore to ten days prior.  However, Timeslips, their mission critical time and billing application, was not working properly.  No problem, I thought.  If worst comes to worst, we can reinstall the program and restore the data to the most recent backup.

When I got on site, what I discovered dropped my jaw to the floor and made my heart sink.  The program was indeed missing. But, worse than that (as I mentioned, we could just reinstall the application), there were no backups of the data.  And it wasn’t just that there were no backups on the restored server.  The network personnel did not restore them from the cloud backup, because there were no backups.  What!  So I inquired, and what I heard made me shake my head in disbelief.  There were no backups because my client had not backed up their Timeslips data in over two years.  How can that be, any of my clients will tell you I am a fanatic when it comes to backing up data.  The more backups you have the better.  If ever you have a disaster, and this event surely qualified, you want to give yourself the most options to recover.

This is also a perfect example of why you should not rely solely on network backups.  Most have a policy of using a two week cycle.  But, if you don’t discover the virus or any other problem before the two weeks are up, you just keep backing up the problem.

Now my client will have to spend thousands of dollars in time and effort trying to recreate over two years worth of mission critical data.  And all because they relied on network backups.  If they made Timeslips backups, and depending on your version, they can even be done automatically, it would have provided them with security, and insurance against a server failure. Free insurance!

Sometimes you just have to help yourself.

I-wish-I-had-protected-my-data

If you want to help yourself, please view our recorded webinar on steps you can take, to give your company the security and insurance it needs to be protected from a disaster.

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Is it time to upgrade my software?

The job of a software company is to bring their customers applications that will allow them to manage a piece of their business, communicate with their customers, solve a problem, fill a need, etc. …you know what they do.   Once they have filled that void, they have to manage to stay in business.  That requires the continued sale of their products and services.

Over the years, most software companies have developed a plan to bring annual upgrades to their customers.  That coupled with their annual maintenance plans create an annuity, or recurring revenue stream that they can rely on.  With these revenues, hopefully they then build more value (features and functionality) into the products.  That sounds good to me.  We as customers get software to meet our needs and they continue to keep the products relevant and up-to-date.

Software solutionsBut, not so fast…What if a developer upgrade does not have new features and functionality that you can take advantage of?  There’s nothing in the release that matters to you.  I have seen software releases that basically include bug fixes and the developer tried to pass it off as an upgrade.  Are you paying for that?  I know none of my clients will.

So, what’s the deal?  When is it time to upgrade your software?

I often get this question and my answer is simple…

If there are features in the new version that can save or make you money, then the answer is YES!  It’s worth it.  Otherwise, the only reason to upgrade would be because the computers, servers, and/or operating systems you have deployed throughout the company are old and outdated.  If you have to replace your hardware, and the older version of the software you’re using will not run on the newer computers, then you’ll need to upgrade.

We have seen exceptions to this rule and one applies to an upcoming release of Sage Timeslips.  Sometimes you can get caught in a trap.  Be sure you don’t…attend our webinar to avoid a costly mistake…

 

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Simple Steps to Reducing Risk

What’s it worth to have peace of mind; to know that if disaster strikes and your server crashes, or worse yet, dies altogether, that your mission critical data is protected?  There is always that chance of power failures, hanging workstations, data corruption and disaster striking.  It may not happen very often, but it usually will happen at the most in opportune times (when is a good time?). Taking some simple steps will make the effect of such crises minimal…Reduce your risks!

Risk of Not Doing Regular Database Backups

Backup riskYou would think that having expensive, redundant drives and tape or cloud backup systems would be enough for an effective data recovery solution.  But, restoring from these media is not always quick and easy.  You most likely rely on someone else, maybe an outside network company, to restore the data.  That could take time.  And if they can’t recover it all, you can end up having to re-key data.  Depending on how often the backups were performed, it could be month’s worth of pain.

Most applications have internal backup procedures.  You should use them regularly.  We have saved several of our clients many hours of pain and thousands of dollars just by quickly accessing recent data backups; based on our recommended schedule.  We are often able to piece together data from one backup with that of a previously corrupt database to bring you back to whole or near whole.  It’s important to have a total strategy for disaster recovery and there are some simple, inexpensive things you can do to add a level of security.  And remember…backup the backups!  Do you believe in insurance?

Risk of Not Having Regular Maintenance Procedures

Database maintenance riskWouldn’t you rather know you have a problem before the point of no return?  Sometimes data corruption can be buried in a database for months and go undetected.  A safe practice of checking data for possible corruption, so you can correct it on your terms and with more option available to you, makes sense.  Database utilities can sometimes identify problems you don’t know you have.  Let us help you identify some simple steps to eliminate these unknowns.

 

Personnel Risks

Personnel Risk

How often have you had to wait for someone to come back from vacation before you could accomplish a mission critical task? Have you ever been in the situation where your billing person or bookkeeper left without giving you notice?  By simply cross training your employees, especially those with specific knowledge, you can save much aggravation, time and money.

 

Policies and Procedures
Every organization has certain functions that they must perform.  But, they all have different modes of operation.  They all have different requirements, because the individuals running these companies are unique.  As a further step to security, you should document your mission critical policies and procedures.  Having a set of instructions to follow will be invaluable.  If you’ve ever been stranded by an employee, and have no clue how they performed certain tasks, you can relate!

How high is your threshold for pain?  Let us help you with some simple steps to reduce your risk! CONTACT US