The information management disaster you did not expect!

Information disaster can happen to anyone. This week FileHold Systems learned that a hot water tank had been installed in the ceiling of our office prior to us moving into the building. The reason we learned about it is a seam opened up along the side of the tank and water poured into our office. Of course, it happened on a weekend when no one was around so the water kept running saturating our office with an inch of water throughout and eventually pouring down two floors into the offices below. When we arrived at work on Monday the maintenance crew had discovered the situation and our offices were full of fans and dehumidifiers creating a nearly unworkable employee environment.

The water tank was situated directly above our accounting workstation. It was also relatively close to our server room but fortunately our servers are raised above the floor surface so even if the floor was flooded, they were not impacted. In the end, we were relatively lucky losing only one computer and printer and not our entire IT infrastructure. This is not just a short-term problem as there is the potential of mold developing if remediation is not complete (a noisy intrusive experience as the remediation process must continue for a while). In addition, the process of checking for mold has indicated some potential for asbestos in the drywall that will also require attention.

Unlike the shoemaker’s son who has holes in his shoes, FileHold uses the software we have developed to protect our business information and we are happy that we do. FileHold thinks about the security of our data; particularly that of our customers and our Intellectual Property. Our objective has always been that in the case of an office disaster, such as we just had, we would be able to continue our process of marketing, selling, installing, and supporting our customer base. Our plan was to be able to recover our data if there ever was an emergency like this. All critical documents, project plans, product roadmaps, and customer information are security stored in either the FileHold document repository or our CRM which operates in the cloud.

Even if the water tank disaster had been worse and employees could not work in the office we would have been able to continue operations by setting up a temporary office location or having employees work from home. All employees have powerful laptop computers that have been given to them and can access all the information they need stored in FileHold or our CRM. The accounting machine was destroyed but we always maintain a hot backup on a laptop in a different location. We were happily invoicing customers and providing new licenses the same day the disaster occurred.

The warning to everyone is that you never know from where or when the next document disaster is coming. It is well worth the time it takes to centralize the storage of your companies Intellectual Property in a software system like FileHold and back it up to be recovered nearly instantly in the case of a disaster like FileHold had. I am very grateful the FileHold IT team had put processes in place that protected our business continuity and none of our customers were impacted.

Needless to say, I have recommended to building management not to re-install the water heater tank in the ceiling. If you would like to learn more about how FileHold software can protect your Intellectual Property contact [email protected].