Here's a scenario that no one wants to think about even though it's one that could easily happen to you. Imagine that you're in charge of your own franchise and you've got someone in change of data protection but they're doing the things the old way and physically saving the files and taking the information with them after work each day.

Now imagine that this person has had a bad day and forgets. Happens right' Now think about what would happen if the very night they forget, your store suffers a catastrophic fire and all the files are lost with the computer in the store' It's not hard to see how devastating that would be to your entire business.

So now you're asking yourself what the solution is. Aren't there ways to ensure that this doesn't happen? The short answer is yes there are, but the correct answer is that some of these data protection ideas work better than others and the best by far is the remote backups that ensure full security. When you look at some of the other ways that people have saved their data, it's easy to see where they've been vulnerable before the remote backups came along. Some of the more common approaches included:

1. The CD Rom. Still a great way to keep that information remote and away from the source should something bad happen, but these run the risk of being lost or stolen. They come in a distant second to the remote backups.

2. FlashDrives. Just like the CD Roms but in a way even more likely to go missing.

It's not hard to see why remote backups are the best. They are offsite in a secure location away from the original source and with a set of specific codes it's possible to get the information right away as long as you can find an Internet connection. Remember that there are certain instances where second best isn't good enough and data protection is one of these.