You may be thinking to yourself, “Why should I backup Google Docs when it’s remotely hosted by Google?” It’s true that Google probably has some of the biggest and most secure servers on the planet, backed by billions of dollars, and maintained by hundreds of Googlers. The work documents you store on your Google Docs account are safe and hosted on the cloud, what could go wrong? This, apparently, has put a lot of users under a false sense of security and can be the catalyst for data loss that may be costly for both companies and freelancers.
Why risk it? There are a lot of factors that may compromise your data on Google Docs; from simple errors up to severe causes. We’ve discussed Google Docs and Data Loss before and can’t stress the urgency of backing up more. Be smart – Here are just five examples of why you should backup your Google Docs data:
- Downtimes and outages
- Lack of Google technical support
- Offline access
- A single point of failure
- User error
Here is more details…
Downtimes and outages – these happen occasionally: yes, even Google experiences downtimes and that may cause unavailability of your important work documents on Google Docs.
So even Google can experiences outages: it’s an uncontrollable factor – disasters may happen, and even Googlers maintaining the product might make an error.
Lack of Google technical support – let’s face it; Google gives us nifty tools like Google Docs for free, but technical support is not guaranteed. When you buy software, part of the package is the technical support they offer to users. Errors can and will happen and that’s part of customer retention. When you inexplicably lose your Google Docs due to a freak error, who do you go to? Sure, you can scour message boards and try to find the answer yourself, but you’re mostly left to fix the problem yourself.
To save yourself the headache, keeping a replica of all your documents to other cloud service is always a good thing. You can never be too secure when it comes to your work. When your boss asks you for the report, would you blame Google if you lost it?
Offline access – even with today’s proliferation of broadband and wireless connections, you can’t be sure that you’ll be able to access your Google Docs account. If the hotel or coffee shop you’re staying at doesn’t have Wi-Fi (or the connection is down), how will you be able to show your client your proposal on Google Docs? If you know that there’s a chance you’re not going to get online, there’s no excuse not to keep a backup of your files. Being prepared can be the difference between a sale and a frustrated client.
A single point of failure – a single point of failure is a part that will prevent the entire system from working if it fails. It is a clearly identifiable weakness that should be avoided in your company or work. In this case, relying solely on Google Docs for your files is the single point of failure – if in case you are not able to access the account or experience data loss, there is no other way to recover your documents.
Being proactive and replicating your files to Dropbox will allow you to secure your files and avoid the single point of failure. Why wait for calamity to strike? Start backing up your Google Docs and keep your peace of mind.
User error – Even with all the failsafes at Google and on your computer, uninterruptible power supplies at your office, and the latest technologies, user error is still the leading cause of data loss globally. According to an article on PCWorld, human error causes up to 25% of sensitive data loss for companies. It ranges from simple unsaved documents up to loss of sensitive customer data like credit card and personal information that could lead to millions of dollars in loss and lawsuits.
Whether it’s an accident or maliciously meant, data loss due to user errors are a big issue that companies and huge corporations deal with every year. For an individual, this could be equally as devastating because of the potential delays, costs, and headache involved with losing your precious data.
Whether it’s an accident or maliciously meant, data loss due to user errors are a big issue that companies and huge corporations deal with every year. For an individual, this could be equally as devastating because of the potential delays, costs, and headache involved with losing your precious data.
All this, and other factors make backing up your Google Docs data imperative. Don’t wait for the moment where you lose all your work because of these problems – start backing up your Google Docs data now. Keep a backup of your work on a USB flash drive, locally, or even better – on cloudHQ for Google Docs.
With cloudHQ, your files on Google Docs, Basecamp, or Dropbox are synch’d and kept secure continuously on all these cloud services. Edit your files on Google Docs and it’s automatically backed up on Dropbox AND locally. With an easy to use interface, there’s no learning curve involved: set it and forget it.
Now you can breathe a sigh of relief and avoid all these issues. Try cloudHQ today at www.cloudhq.net. Sign up today for a 15-day free trial at www.cloudhq.net and experience cloudHQ for yourself.