There's an old saying: "There are those that back up, and those that will." And as I mention here, it's critically important to back up your data. I learned the lesson the hard way, many years ago, when I deleted all the data from a database I had been working on for two days. Ever since then, I've always backed up my database, typically once a week, sometimes more frequently. I also back up everything on my computer's hard drive on a regular basis.

But even old-hands learn the hard way sometimes. The other day I posted an item on this blog. An inappropriate comment made it to the comments section of the post. I went to delete the comment, and wound up accidentally deleting the entire post. And…you guessed it…I have no back up for my blog.

Well, I didn't then. I do now.

So ask yourself: What data at my organization isn't being backed up? Do staff have information on their PCs that isn't part of the back up process? Do we have online tools (e.g., blogs, job boards, web sites) that aren't being backed up? Do you know for sure?