Comp-U-News from Comp-U-Talk
November 2012

Preparing for an Emergency

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the people affected by Hurricane Sandy and who are now trying to piece their life back together.

As I view the pictures and watch the media coverage I have to say: "Thank God, that didn't happen here!" I can't help but wonder if I could survive a disaster like Sandy. I'll admit, I'm a wimp! I like electricity, I like heat, I don't like water, and although you would never guess from looking at my desk, I like tidy! Sandy took away everything I like and left all sorts of stuff that I don't like.

I read the statistics concerning the survival rates of businesses that come face to face with a disaster. The following quote comes from: http://www.chamber101.com/2programs_committee/natural_disasters/disasterpreparedness/Forty.htm

"Forty percent of businesses do not reopen after a disaster and another 25 percent fail within one year according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Similar statistics from the United States Small Business Administration indicate that over 90 percent of businesses fail within two years after being struck by a disaster.
It is a common misconception that insurance awards and aid from government agencies will allow merchants to pick up the pieces after a flood, major earthquake or like disaster — many types of disasters are not covered under normal insurance policies and aid from government agencies may be too little, too late."


Those are some pretty scary numbers. Further reading indicates that those who do survive, do so because they planned ahead. They had plans to protect their employees, they had plans to protect their data. Do you have a plan? Maybe you are saying: "This isn’t relevant to me, I don't own a business!" That might be true, but there are millions of people on the east coast who are mourning not just the loss of their homes and vehicles but also their family photos and important documents.

I have always been a proponent of off-site backups. In the past I have recommended that you take copies of your personal and business data to an alternate location; take the work stuff home and take the home stuff to work. But Sandy had a 1,000 mile girth. I don't know of very many people that commute 1,000 miles, so while this philosophy works well if one building burns down, it doesn't work nearly as well when nature goes out of control.

Any more, protecting your data is affordable and easy. Remote backup of 10 gigs of compressed data (roughly 17-20 gigs uncompressed) is just $20/month. Twenty gigs compressed (roughly 35 - 40 gigs uncompressed) is $37.50/month. The data is stored encrypted so no one but you can access it, and is housed in Minnesota. And… the setup, configuration and first month of storage is free! You can’t go wrong with this!

To start your free trial service you can call me: 541.756.8770
Email me: support@coosnet.com
Stop by and talk me or my support staff at: 2561 Broadway, North Bend, OR 97459
Or Fill out the request form at: http://comp-u-talk.com/webservices/webservices.htm
Be certain to fill in the contact information and put a check mark in the box for backup services and I will be in touch.

Do you need important documents converted to computer files? We can do that too. Whether you need copies of your will, mortgage papers, property liens, or digital copies of your kids baby pictures, we have the equipment to convert paper copies to computer files. Call us or stop by for a personal quote.

Stay Safe,
Janet