1st
Draft
Head: Business Backup: What's Your
Time Worth?
Don McGowan couldn't believe it as
he watched his computer's operating system crash earlier this year. The
president of McGowan Insurance Services Limited, a small employer benefits
consulting firm in Oakville Ontario, had simply downloaded a security patch off
the Internet. But an incompatibility resulted in a decimated C-drive.
It could have been worse.
Normally a crashed system meant
spending hours trying to retrieve the lost data -- or calling in an expensive IT
professional to extract the information off tape -- but with a stroke of pure
luck, McGowan was able to sidestep all of that.
Just that month he'd signed up
with Bell's Business Backup service and with a couple of clicks of his mouse,
had his critical data back where it belonged.
"It worked out great. I was very
impressed," he says.
Subhead: What is Business Backup?
Business Backup service makes
backing up easier, quicker and more reliable by using your business's high
speed Internet connection to send selected computer files or folders to Bell's
secure off-site data centre.
You decide when the backup occurs
and how often. McGowan says he backs up automatically
every night -- and performs manual backups each time he finishes a session on
his accounting software.
Like most small business owners,
McGowan knew backing up critical data was important, but often forgot to do it.
It was cumbersome; swapping tapes every night.
"To be perfectly honest, I wasn't
religious about it," he admits. So when a Bell representative contacted him,
explaining the benefits of the system -- it's automatic,
reliable, regular and allows for fast and easy file recovery -- McGowan was sold.
McGowan confesses it was the
credibility of the Bell name that was the true clincher, however.
"There's a lot of comfort that
comes with that name," he says.
Subhead: Professional and Personal
After the crash, McGowan upgraded
his service from 100 MB of storage to 4 GBs, so he could store his family's
growing digital photo collection. He worried about corrupted data and even a
fire breaking out in his home. By storing the photos offsite, he now rests easy
knowing they're safe.
In fact, the most compelling
reason to use the Business Backup service rests on his photogenic four-year-old
son's shoulders.
"If you work from home, you're
probably not the only person using that computer. The whole world is just a
keystroke away," he says. And that
world includes computer viruses that little fingers could inadvertently let in.
"I don't know what new products
Bell's got in the works, but if they're as good as this, I'll certainly be
actively considering those products," he says.
-30-
Pullout:
Don McGowan, president
McGowan Insurance Services Limited
15 years in business
$325, 000 gross
One laptop, two desktops,
networked