Kieran Cooper suggests ways of coping when the chips are down!
The infamous Murphy?s law ? whatever can go wrong, will go wrong ? could easily have been written about computers. Certainly, the more reliant we all get on IT, the more vulnerable we are to all sorts of perils, whether they be viruses, theft or simply malfunction. So what should organisations do to protect themselves?
One absolute minimum these days is to have up-to-date virus protection. With packages costing well under £50 and offering automatic updating over the Internet, there is very little excuse for catching any viruses these days (unless they are absolutely brand-new ones that manage to slip through). Another important factor is making sure you have the latest versions of programs and operating systems. Microsoft makes this very easy by providing tools on the Internet to check which system you have and install updates as required (windowsupdate.microsoft.com for Windows or officeupdate.microsoft.com for Office programs), but most other software applications will do something similar. This is absolutely essential for servers, but it is also a good idea to keep desktop machines as up-to-date as possible.
Backups are another necessity, but all too often this is an area that remains on peoples? ?must do that when I?ve got time? list. Everyone needs to ask themselves occasionally just what the consequences would be if they lost all their documents, emails and programs. How long would it take you to piece together your work? Would your organisation actually survive if all the financial records were lost? There are several ways that data can be backed up these days. Organisations with a server can set up automatic copying from desktop machines so that data can then be saved on a tape. Alternatively, for individual computers or laptops, you could use a company that organises backups over the Internet so that your data is periodically saved on a remote server. But with drives becoming ever cheaper, it is quite easy to use recordable CDs or DVDs which can store large amounts of data securely. For really important backups, you should store copies away from the office ? the best backup strategy in the world won?t be much use if the tapes melt in a fire.
The concept of a hardware support contract seems to have gone out of fashion recently, as people believe that hardware ought to be getting more reliable as time goes on. In fact, some components ? particularly hard disk drives ? are actually more prone to failure these days because the technology has been pushed so far. It is therefore all the more important to consider how you would cope if a computer broke down. One alternative might be to have a spare computer ready to plug in as a replacement while the old one is sent away for repair. It may seem an expensive option but it could work out cheaper than paying lots of engineer call-out fees (as long as there?s a good backup that can be quickly copied to the new machine, of course.)
Don?t forget the physical security of computers either. Unfortunately, components such as disks or memory have rather a good black market value, and it is not unknown for servers to be ripped open whilst they are still plugged in! Making sure that all computers are well protected, especially from the sneak thief, is common sense but laptops are particularly vulnerable to all sorts of mishaps ? its not just Ministry of Defence employees who can leave their computers in taxis. Not only is it important to have good insurance, but it is also good practice to use the various data security devices that manufacturers make available these days so that a thief isn?t able to access what?s on the computer.
All this may seem the stuff of nightmares and, of course, most organisations seem to manage quite happily without taking any steps to protect themselves. But I?m sure there?s also a law that the odds of a terrible incident happening are in inverse proportion to the amount of time that has been spent working out what could be done to prevent it. And if nobody?s bagged it yet, can that be Cooper?s Law?
Kieran Cooper is a director of the arts management consultancy Catalyst Arts
t: 01225 340340; e: kieran@catalystarts.com; w: http://www.catalystarts.com
IT queries? Send your questions to editors@artsprofessional.co.uk and we will ask Kieran to respond through this column.