The thought of losing vital company data can make any business owner or manager's stomach turn. This data is crucial to your interior design firm's everyday operations, whether specific project details or company financial information. Therefore, having a safe and reliable backup strategy is paramount, as it keeps your firm and its data protected and supports business continuity should the unthinkable happen.
You may be wondering how DesignDocs works behind the scenes to protect and safeguard your data at all times. While there are many different security and backup options, some are more robust than others. Let us explain the security and backup measures at work across all areas of DesignDocs.
DESIGNDOCS AS A SOFTWARE-AS-A-SERVICE PLATFORM
First, let's consider how DesignDocs is built. As a software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform, the DesignDocs application is centrally hosted in the cloud and licensed to users on a subscription basis. All our subscription plans include professionally managing, securely storing, and routinely backing up data. Part of the service we provide and the value we deliver is protecting and safeguarding your data, so you don't have to worry about it.
In addition, we employ a comprehensive and diligent data backup strategy that is regularly tested and monitored to ensure it remains a responsive and reliable disaster recovery solution.
OUR SYSTEM-WIDE DATA BACKUP STRATEGY
To protect our users and mitigate any chance of risk if all preventive measures fail, our system-wide data backup strategy includes two main processes:
1. Continuous archive database: We archive the entire DesignDocs database continually. This archiving allows for a complete database restoration at any point during a 7-day rolling window. For example, if needed, we could restore a copy of the whole system as it was at exactly 9:55 am yesterday.
2. Daily complete data backup x 2: Once a day, a complete data extract and backup of the system is created and securely placed into long-term storage. A duplicate backup copy is also created and moved into secure long-term storage in a separate geographic location from where our primary system is running.
CLOUD BACKUP VS LOCAL BACKUP
The backup method we choose is equally important to how and when we're backing up. If we decided to use a local backup, we would be backing up data to a local device such as a hard drive, disc, or another form of physical media. With a cloud backup solution, data is backed up and stored on a remote server with multiple layers of security for added protection.
At DesignDocs, we choose to use cloud backups in all areas of our operations. There are two main reasons for this:
1. A cloud backup is far more secure than a local backup. A local backup will be lost if its physical storage device is lost, vandalized, stolen, destroyed, or fails (the hard drive becomes fried or corrupt). For most of us, it's happened before in one way or another - you go to retrieve some files but are met with an error message. Think of how often your company data is changing - you work every day, which means you should be backing up every day. If you try to manage this yourself with a local backup solution, it will require extra time and costs within your firm's operations.
2. Software and data files go hand-in-hand; without one, you can't use the other. For instance, let's say you have a local backup file, but your software is in the cloud. If you no longer have the necessary software to read the local backup file, the file is deemed unusable. For this reason, DesignDocs takes a uniform approach to both platform hosting and data backup. The cloud is a safe, reliable, agile, and accessible solution for backing up and storing data. It allows us to run DesignDocs in the most beneficial way for our members as a multi-user software that design firms and their teams can access simultaneously anywhere and anytime.
THE FULL PACKAGE
Using an all-in-one cloud-based system and service like DesignDocs is the smart way to go. Not only do you get access to a complete project management and accounting system that directly addresses the needs of the interior design industry, but you also get professional data management and security in the form of hassle-free backups for both the data and the application. So, should the unexpected happen, you still have a system to run your business on (not to mention a dedicated customer support team).
Furthermore, you don't have to worry about sifting through multiple systems or platforms. As everything is all-in-one, you only have to check one location if you need to find an invoice or order for that important project.
STILL WANT TO DO SOMETHING YOURSELF?
If it helps you to know that you are physically doing something to back up your company data, then we can recommend implementing the following practices:
- In our opinion, financial statements are something you can't lose. So, we advise users to get into the routine of keeping copies outside the system of all their general ledger account activity reports, trial balances, and financial statements. Compiling these at year-end can be easily done.
- DesignDocs allows users to export information, including specific project details. For example, if there is essential data such as item details or a particular type of fabric used, you can export and archive project reports at the end of a project to always have these details on hand.
- Sales tax reports can also be generated and saved as an Excel file, which you can keep outside the system.
- DesignDocs users can export their general ledger analysis history to Excel at any time. You may wish to do so on a periodic (monthly/quarterly/annually) self-serve basis and file the data somewhere separately.
MORE QUESTIONS?
We understand the importance of data backups and security for all our interior design firm customers and are here to answer any further questions you have. Don’t hesitate to contact us, and a member of our team will be happy to discuss things further with you.
