by Zoe Zorka

Image Source. Licensed under Creative Commons.

Modern businesses rely heavily on technology. When this tech fails, it can have a disastrous impact – potentially stopping a business from being able to operate. Fortunately, many of the most common and serious tech disasters can be prevented, or at the very least easily fixed. This may require having certain people on call or it may require investing in certain preventative measures. Here are just five tech disasters that could strike your business and how you can protect yourself against them.

You’ve been hacked

A cyberattack could have a devastating impact on your business leading to important information being stolen. You can prevent a cyberattack by making sure that your digital security is strong enough. Backing up data – either on the cloud or on an external hard-drive – could also ensure that you have copies if someone still manages to hack you and steal data. Disaster recovery software can be worth investing in to defend against ransomware attacks in which a hacker may take all your files hostage.

Your PC keeps crashing

Having to work on a PC that keeps crashing could be frustrating and could interrupt important work as well potentially causing you to lose work. Rather than having to call out an IT technician, it could be worth looking into a managed service provider that may be able to react fast and fix any bugs remotely. Having a spare device to work on meanwhile could be useful if it is a hardware problem – some offices will have spare PC just in case one goes down and someone is left without a computer.

You’ve deleted an important file

Human error can sometimes lead to important files being deleted, which could prevent your business from being able to carry out vital work. Backing up all files can ensure that you’ve always got a copy to fall back on. If it’s too late for that, there may be a way of still recovering deleted files – an IT technician may be able to help with this.

Your wi-fi has stopped working

Temperamental wi-fi could stop you from getting important work done. By paying a little extra for a more premium wi-fi service, you may be able to provide a stronger and more secure connection. Some companies also have a backup wi-fi source that they can use. You may even be able to use your smartphone’s hotspot feature. If all this fails, consider whether you can log on to your files from another location (if your files are stored on cloud you should be able to do this).

There’s been a power cut
Power cuts can prevent all machinery from working and cut out any local wi-fi connection. Whilst they may only last a few hours, this could be enough to cause serious damage if you’re unable to attend to clients’ needs. There are many ways to protect your business from a power cut. The cheapest and easiest is to use an uninterruptable power supply that could keep machinery running for several hours after a power cut. Another option could be to buy your own backup generator so that you can keep running your machinery for as long as it takes for the power issue to be fixed. Alternatively, if you can access information on the cloud, you may be able to work from another location.