News Article

Posted on 23 May 2013

Please note: this is an old article

It was published in May 2013, so the information may be out-of-date.

Businesses around Greater Shepparton are being urged to ensure that their data is securely backed up to protect against loss in the case of emergency such as flood or fire.

Businesses who attend Greater Shepparton City Council and GOTAFE’s workshop in June, Is Your Business Data Protected?, will be in the running for $500 cash-back for a data back-up system. Business owners and managers at the workshop will be able to find out what the risks are, what types of back up technologies are available, and to assess their own business’ vulnerability.

Local business owner Kaye Bernardi who runs the Big4 Shepparton East Holiday Park discovered how quickly data can be threatened when the business’ booking system crashed earlier this year in the middle of a busy public weekend.

“Fortunately about three years ago we invested in an internet back-up system that automatically backs up our data off site four times every day. This allowed us to recover all our data and resume providing a service with minimal disruption to our customers,” Ms Bernardi said. “You may think that data loss will not happen to you, but we’re proof that it’s not a matter of if it will happen, but when.”

“Many businesses simply do not have adequate back up of their data so that when an emergency happens, they are vulnerable to losing it all,” said Mayor of Greater Shepparton City Council, Cr Jenny Houlihan, herself a business owner. “When you are recovering from a flood or other emergency, the last thing you want to have to deal with on top of clean ups and insurance claims is retrieving data that’s critical to your business.”

Cr Houlihan said that it was easy to let data back-up fall to the bottom of the list of a business’ priorities, but it was critical to ensure that businesses could get back on their feet quickly after an emergency.

“It’s good not just for businesses but for the whole community if they are able to return to normal activities quickly,” she said.

The workshop is timed so that business owners will be able to confer with their IT and other business professionals and discuss their current set up and needs in time for the end of the financial year.

The workshop will run on Tuesday 18 June at 6pm. Bookings are essential and can be made by bookings can be made by contacting 1300 GOTAFE.