Nov 20

The Need for a Backup Strategy
By Aleksey Rubin

So you&amprsquove decided to backup your data but what is the next step? You must have a backup strategy irrespective of whether you are a home user or a business user. The depth of the strategy is the only variant between these two types of users.

As time goes by people and businesses are facing massive and ever-increasing amounts of data that are difficult to manage and that remain unprotected. In this light, the need for a backup strategy becomes critical. Let me just take email as an example: the 12/2004 issue of Smart Computing reports that 88% of adult PC users send and receive emails. The International Data Corporation reports that 16.8 trillion emails were transmitted in 2004 with this figure climbing to 19.7 trillion this year. According to Smart Computing, American businesses send about 9 billion emails a day. On average, home-users transmit around 435kb in email attachments every day. One other research firm estimates that typical corporations with 5000 employees accumulate 4 terabytes of emails every year. The size of my Outlook PST file for 2004 at work rested at 1.4Gb at home it was 650Mb! And finally, Dataquest estimates that the total number of hard disk drives shipped in 2002 rests at 212.5m units representing around 8.5m terabytes of storage space.

Home-user data includes documents, audio and video files, scanned images, and digital photos. Businesses have marketing collateral developed and stored electronically, customer information stacked in databases, financial records posted in accounting packages, budgets and business plans recorded on network storage devices. As this list grows, the need for a backup strategy becomes even more obvious!

We usually advise customers to look at 5 key elements of any backup strategy:

1. Invest in good Backup Software: Read the reviews, visit the websites and look out for features and assurances that the product you are buying is reliable, fast and easy to use. Spend time reading the websites of the various suppliers. Some products cost no more than $40 but your data costs much more. Losing your data because the software you have bought is not effective means that you have thrown away an extra $40!

2. Plan Your Backups: Most software packages on the market have schedulers. Use these schedulers. It doesn&amprsquot take much time to set up a timetable for backups. Depending on how many times you use your PC you can schedule your periodical backups: at work, I backup every day at 9 a.m.. At home, I backup once a week.

3. Check the Integrity of your Restore: Even though you have backed up, what guarantee do you have that your data can be restored when disaster hits? The best way to ensure full &ampldquorestorability&amprdquo of your data is to buy a backup product that has bit-level verification (like WinBackup 2.0). Such a feature makes sure that while the product is performing your backup it checks all the data down to the level of bits and bytes. In essence, the software first back up the data and then automatically performs a test restore to make sure that every single bit has been copied.

4. Check the Integrity of your Backup Medium: You can have the best software in the world and back your data every hour, however, if you do not have a good medium to store your archives, you are doomed. The second best way to ensure the restorability of your data is to choose good mediums and to do regular test restores from them.

5. Check your hard drives regularly and make sure you have good anti-spyware and anti-virus software. There is no harm in checking hard drives for errors and bad sectors as these drives do fail over time.

Data Recovery and Backup Software

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http://EzineArticles.com/?The-Need-for-a-Backup-Strategy&id=312104

Nov 17

Downloadable Backup Software
By Eddie Tobey

Backup software ranges from simple programs that help you copy files to a floppy or CD to complex software packages that backup thousands of networked computers. There are backup software programs that can be downloaded directly from the Internet.

Downloadable backup programs enable you to store your data in a variety of storing devices such as tapes, CDs, DVDs, and hard drives. Downloadable backup software programs can be used in different types of computers such as personal computers, local network computers, and large professional computer networks.

Downloadable backup software may be freeware or payware programs. Freeware programs are usually suitable only for free software such as GNU and Linux. Before you download a backup software program, make sure that it is suitable for the operating system you use in your computer. Most downloadable backup software packages run in operating systems such as Windows 98/Me/NT4/2000/XP/2003. Downloadable backup software can be full backup software, differential backup software, or incremental backup software. Full backup software is used for the full restoring of a crashed hard drive. Differential backup software packages restore selected files. Incremental backup software helps you restore data present on specified date and time.

Most downloadable backup software companies provide online information on their products and prices. Some allow comparisons of their products and prices with others. Most downloadable backup software programs have shareware versions, which are free trail versions of the original software.

Downloadable backup software can be hard drive backup software, online backup software, or utility backup software. The downloading procedure is generally easy and can be done by following the instructions. You can keep a copy of the downloaded software program on a CD or DVD for future use.

Backup Software provides detailed information on Backup Software, CD ROM Backup Software, Free Backup Software, Computer Backup Software and more. Backup Software is affiliated with Network Status Monitoring Software.

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http://EzineArticles.com/?Downloadable-Backup-Software&id=302277

Nov 14

You Need to Backup
By Robert Hanania

It doesn’t matter if you paid $500.00 or $2000.00 to purchase a new computer for your home or business you will defiantly want to have some kind of insurance and backing up your computer is the best form of protection there is.

When anyone buys a computer today they are most likely to be using windows, the most widely accepted operating system on the market. Windows comes with a software utility called backup that lets the user copy all their files and other data onto various media. It is recommended to backup your computer once a week, but if a lot of data is added within a couple of days or so you may consider so daily. First and foremost a backup should include your system settings and important files, and then you can pick and choose to copy e-mail, favorites, pictures, ect. Or make a full backup to cover everything.

There are problems with backups of the human sort. It pains me to say some people (even professionals) are lazy or inconsistent when it comes to backups. They either forget or simply don’t bother until it’s too late because the backup was not updated to include their current data this oversight can ruin a business! Some people will also neglect to have in place having any sort of labeling system for past and current backups with dates, times or other crucial information. If you are backing up onto magnetic tapes like floppy disks (these are not practical anymore because they only hold about 1.5mb of data), you should keep them away from anything that can produce a magnate field like motors, phones and power supplies also keep them away from excessive heat, cold and moisture.

The media used depends on factors like cost, time, type, and connivance of use. The most common type of media backup used is CD-R and CD-RW the first one is cheap but you will use a lot of them for a full backup because they hold only 650 MB of data and you will not be able to hold video files. The second is more expensive and has the same limitations (as CD-R’s), but has the ability to be written on again and again (Re- Writeable).

Another way to go is by using a DVD-R or DVD-RW disks that can hold around 5 GB (GigaBites) of data an can hold digital video files as well. (That’s my personal favorite).

Zip drives are also a preferred storage device that can hold 750 MB and also external hard drives that up to 150 GB. There are other types of data storage media, these are just a few.

What it boils down to is everyone should use there backups correctly, use the best media for your present needs, but also try to anticipate what you might need in the future.

About the Author

Robert Hanania is the owner and operator of Data And File Recovery Dot Com If you would like to contact him, please visit his Website

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http://EzineArticles.com/?You-Need-to-Backup&id=115279

Nov 11

Backup Your Data On Your Computer Or Lose It Forever
By Gregg Hall

Computers, though they are meant to make our lives generally easier, depending on the perception, usually are much like a double-edged sword. Any person, who has used a computer for a while, will have an understanding on just how safe their date is. More the fact, that safe date simply does not exist, when it comes to computers. It really does not matter what type of work you are doing you have experienced computer failure likely numerous times. Occasionally, as is expected, we will experience disruptions within the work we are doing on the computer rather we are laying out a business plan, writing a book, or simply surfing the internet.

Each piece of data you store upon your computer is in danger of a variety of threats. Because of this, regular computer users have integrated recovery of data directly into our knowledge of computers. While it is possible to recover data, it does not mean it is always a necessity. There are rules all computer users should know and apply the following will help in preventing the need to use data recovery.

You should practice regular backups of:

Games you have Saved

Your System Settings

My Documents Folder

My Music Folder

My Pictures Folder

Drivers

Applications that you do not have copies of

It is important to back up the above because doing so will help you prevent the need to use data recovery. When backing up these items you should use secondary method of storage such as tapes, disks, floppies, or zip drives, this allows you to ensure hard disk recovery.

Once you have performed the backup, you will want to keep the backup medium stored in a location away from your computer where it will be protected from contamination, heat, and dust, all of which may destroy the data contained on the storage medium. This helps in prevent data recovery from becoming necessary.

Data recovery is still possible, if you accidentally delete a much-needed file. However, before running out to buy the data recovery software, you will want to look into your recycle bin. The recycle bin is the holding folder before permanent deletion. If you have accidentally deleted an important file, first look there and data recovery could be as easy and just restoring the file. However, once it has been emptied, recovering in this manner is not longer available.

If you have ever suffered a crash you know how crucial it is to back up your computer, I have and I know the damage that can be done. Take the time to back up your computer before it is too late.

Gregg Hall is an author living in Navarre Florida. Find more about data backup and Hard Disk Data Recovery at http://www.datarecoveryfast.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Gregg_Hall
http://EzineArticles.com/?Backup-Your-Data-On-Your-Computer-Or-Lose-It-Forever&id=283425

Nov 8

Backup Software
By Eddie Tobey

Creating a backup for the data in a computer or any electronic storage device is very important. Most equipment, including personal computers, have a good chance of “crashing,” which is the failure of the hard disk on which the data is stored. When a hard disk crashes, all the data is inevitably lost.

This possible loss is the main reason for creating backups of the data that we have and that we are likely to use sometime in the future. The frequency of backup creation depends on the usage level of the system, the kinds of files stored, the frequency of changes made to the data, and the importance of the data. Some people store a lot of files on their computers and keep adding new ones continuously. Such people need a daily or even an hourly backup.

There are different kinds of backups: full backup (creates backup for every file and folder in the system) incremental backup (only the changes are copied) unattended backup (the backup can be programmed to take place at a certain time without the active participation of the user) archive or disk image (option to create backup for just files or the whole disk) differential backup (creates backup for only changed files and newer versions of the files) and snapshot backup.

Backups can be made into a whole lot of different devices: compact disks, DVDs, floppy disks, tapes, printouts, removable hard disks, online servers, and so on. Backups can also be made into fixed media like another part of the hard disk or to another computer on the same network. Each of these has different capacities, security limits, conveniences, and risks. It is advisable to back up into more than one media for reducing risk.

The main criteria to be considered while purchasing a backup software program are the ease of operation, ability to backup without continuous monitoring, ability to handle different backup formats like hard disks and CDs, ability to restore with minimum errors, easy accessibility to backup files, ability to have different compression levels for different kinds of files, ability to backup over FTP, USB drives and networks, and ability to verify whether the files have been saved well.

There are several kinds of backup software available today. Some of the best programs include the Genie Backup Manager, NTI BackupNow!, Novastor NovaBackup, Handy Backup, Double Image, ABC Backup, Absolute Backup, Active Backup Expert, Advanced Backup, AKG Backup, Argentum Software, Avail Solutions, BackRex Backup, Backup Buddy, Data Sheriff, Disk2disk and several others. There are also free downloadable backup software programs such as TaskZip, EZBack-it-up, SyncBack, IceMirror, Version, Freebyte, Back4Win, MOB, My Own Backup, Workgroup, Simply Safe, and many more. Most of these software packages come with many other advanced functions such as password protection, restoring damaged backups, filtering of files and storing them accordingly, compression capabilities and several others. Backup software can be downloaded for free from the Internet. Some advanced software programs have to be purchased.

Backup Software provides detailed information on Backup Software, CD ROM Backup Software, Free Backup Software, Computer Backup Software and more. Backup Software is affiliated with Network Status Monitoring Software.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Eddie_Tobey
http://EzineArticles.com/?Backup-Software&id=195962

Nov 5

Truth about Data Backup
By Lee Morrell

Secure data backup has always been an issue for business. Let alone the fact that we live in a technologically-advanced society: most of us have not changed since the times when people used to keep their valuable items wrapped up in a bundle, hidden in their house. Take the data backup organization of companies and data centric organizations, for example.

When the Bunsfield Oil Depot in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire exploded in the morning of 11 December 2005, the truth about data backup and restoration became a serious issue. The huge explosions demolished all surrounding buildings, which could be heard at a radius of a hundred miles (160 km). The storage tanks were extinguished in two days, just to re-ignite on the 13th of December. The whole store was then left to burn to the ground. The unconfined vapor cloud explosion was another problem. The report claims that the vast explosion could be heard as far away as France and the Netherlands. There were over 700 companies within a 10- mile radius of the explosion. You can imagine exactly what happened to their data files, stored on tapes somewhere in a defeated safes. Fire-proof saves can really be a bargain, but only if the ruins of the falling building have not covered the said safe! After an explosion of such a rank, for example, this method of backup will prove its incompatibility to today’s perils that lay ahead of some companies. What if a building falls down, as happened to an IT managed services company waiting to transport its data offsite. The safe could not be uncovered, and the whole information was lost. A bankruptcy is what happens after such incidents, thinking about a logical sequence of events. The company was forced to issue a statement admitting its ability to service its customers had been “temporarily affected”, with backup systems rendered inoperable.

This was just an example, posed to illustrate the real dangers of irrational data backup, which many companies use to consider “safe”. Even more dangerous accidents can happen to a company, destroying all its mission critical files and data. Let’s involve some statistics. 75% of Companies Believe Their Data Is Safe if They Backup to Tape. They leave their valuable information unsafe and rely on procedures such as tape backup. Tapes can be stolen, destroyed, sold to rivals. Anything can happen to tapes. 97% of Companies Believe Their Data Is Safe if They Backup to Tape and Store the Media Offsite. Offsite media storage is no longer enough the information is not safe, if the backup tapes are destroyed by accident. Backup to Tape is No Longer Enough. The worst thing is that the highly threatened companies still don’t realize it. Pay attention that Buncefield was only the 5th largest of over 50 refinery, storage and distribution sites in the UK, all of which are situated near major motorways and conurbations.

The question that you should pose to your mind is whether you can afford to be struck by a disaster. The tape method of backup is no longer totally safe. The solution we offer to you is called Offsite Backup: an automatic backup of your data at two remote data centers in different countries, which have redundant connections between themselves. As your data is secured in two different countries, the whole information can be accessed any time at any day that you choose. The replication of your data in two different centers is a real solution to all your security bothers.

PerfectBackup offers a simple, affordable and secure way to backup all your files: Exchange, SQL, MySQL, Oracle and Lotus data, ensuring the whole data set will always be available. For further details about our service, please visit www.perfectbackup.co.uk. Our site will be a serious guideline to all your questions. PerfectBackup is the solution offering nothing but benefits: it combines the strong points of tape and offsite backup, eliminating the traditional drawbacks. It will protect your data a secure offsite location, and make you more self-assertive about the further enlargement of your company.

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http://EzineArticles.com/?Truth-about-Data-Backup&id=201028

Nov 2

Backup and Recovery for Smaller Organisations–How to Build an Effective Data Backup Strategy
By Lee Morrell

There are many factors which will potentially determine your best data backup strategy. Regardless of your companies size the thought process should be the same. The main factors to take into account are the amount of data being backed up, how quickly you need to backup and more importantly, how quickly you need to restore and the final factor will be the best data medium for you.

Put yourself in the shoes of Mr Unlucky, arriving at work to find, for what ever reason, all your data has been lost. All your customer database, accounts, stock levels and emails have been lost! How could you possibly recover from this and how long could your company stay in business?
It is an agreed fact if you do not backup your data and your data is lost a high percentage of businesses will cease to trade thereafter. Facts also show that those companies who do somehow initially continue to stay alive, 90% fail within two years.
Believe me you do not need to have a major catastrophe to wipe critical information. A disk failure, equipment failure or sudden loss of electricity can do it. Human error is a big factor and can potentially lead to lost servers or accidental deletion of data or major disasters such as, fires to floods and explosions (Bunsfield Oil Refinery), please do not forget malicious actions from crackers, viruses and loss of service attacks.

Another point we all agree on is not if you could lose data, it s when you will lose data. Although hardware infrastructure, software and peripheral network equipment easily can be replaced, the most valued asset, your data, cannot.

We have seen a growing number of government legislations, laws and regulations regarding data storage and privacy. All of which you are now accountable for. Much of this new law has been created because of identity theft as well as the unintentional or intentional posting of such sensitive data on the Internet. Like it or not, it s your responsibility to keep pace with all such laws, I cannot do into the legal aspect as it is a mine field and there are different laws for different types of Developing an Effective.

Data Backup Strategy

Now is the time to create a secure and manageable backup strategy. There is no point doing this after a disaster has struck, it is very minimize data loss and business losses whilst increasing business continuity. Your backup plan should be simple as possible, very specific whilst easy as possible to follow and must include all steps, starting with your initial requirements. You should include what data is critical and prioritize accordingly. How often you backup should not depend on the size or the nature of your company but you should base your solution around the following questions:-

1) Are you backing up a single server or many?

2) Are all your computers and servers located in a single office or do you have remote sites spread around the county?

3) Does your data change by only a few MB per week or by GB’s per day?

4) Is all of your data stored in a single server, or is your data spread around many servers?

5) Is your data simple file data which can be restored easily, or is it spread over various databases running on different operating systems?

6) Are you a 24 x 7 or 9 x 5 operation?

When you have answered the above, you are in a position to prepare a data backup and data recovery assessment which will addresses the following details:

1) What data needs protection? How much is active? How much is old and should be archived or how much data is duplicated or useless?

2) Most important question, what is your recovery window. In other words, how long can you survive without your data?

3) How much money will you lose for each day of downtime?

4) Is your proposed backup media reliable? Please bear in mind that backing up files does not mean you are able to restore your original data. For example, many companies have sought to recover data from backup tapes only to discover the tapes are corrupt or failed to record, and data is lost.

5) How flexible do you need you backup to be, is your data growing rapidly, does your data change a lot day by day?

Time Retention, how long do you need to save your data?
Many industries have to adhere to various laws which regulate or stipulate how long you must archive certain data. Other industries, including medical and legal, have their own data retention regulations mandated. Remember it is your companies responsibility to keep up to and adhere to these regulations and you must understand the legal consequences if you do not comply. As you can imagine consequences can be harsh which may include fines, sanctions or even orders to shut down your business. Such legal requirements are addressed by specific backup solutions.

What Is Your Backup Window?
How much time can you allocate to creating backups? Please take into account your schedule, should your backup take place hourly, daily, weekly or monthly? Remember, the more frequently you back up data, the less data you will lose and you can recover an closer to the exact copy of what you need. The greater the frequency of backup means greater hardware and software and management costs.

Costs
Costs should never be overlooked when creating your backup strategy. Your initial costs include hardware, software and, the backup media itself, don’t expect much change from ?4,000, but don t forget the cost of managing your backup, over a 3 year period management will cost more than the actual data backup hardware and software put together.

Building a Data Protection Strategy
All data protection strategies contain three parts: the backup element, archive element and the recovery element. Let us start looking the backup element of the strategy.
When building a backup plan you must view several factors, starting with management. Who will control and manage your backup procedure? Will it be a single administrator, you, or do have an IT team with set roles for managing and maintaining backups on a regular basis? Even if your backup solution is automated someone must be still be responsible for checking and maintaining your system. Without this clear system, your data backup will quickly become unusable.

Everything you have read details how an effective backup plan is carried out, as you can imagine this can be an expensive and time consuming task. To find out how your data backup solution can be achieved easily and affordably, please visit www.perfectbackup.co.uk

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Lee_Morrell
http://EzineArticles.com/?Backup-and-Recovery-for-Smaller-Organisations–How-to-Build-an-Effective-Data-Backup-Strategy&id=220086

Oct 30

Time to Abandon the “Point-in-Time” Backups
By Stuart Crawford

In today’s world, data and electronic communications are critical to small business success. If your data was to disappear, what would that do to your business? What would a series of data losses cost your business? What great ideas would be gone, never to come back?

The most common solution for many small businesses is to use tape devices, hard drives and some companies even used CD/DVD disks to back up their sales databases, accounting information, client information and any other data that is important to their business.

The issue with tape and disk-based backup systems is that they are a point-in-time backup. What does this mean? Sometime in the middle of the night, a process is started on your computer or network servers to take all of your data, emails, and system configuration and put a copy onto a tape or disk. This is great to have a copy of your data store on some removable device.

At the very least, you will at least have a backup that is 24 hours old. Is this suitable for your business? Maybe not! What happens if your server crashes and you have a data loss at 5 PM in the evening? OK, now your IT consultant has a tape from last nightgreat start. What about all the work that happened throughout the day? How about all the intellectual property that was created that day, that big sales proposal that can take your business to the next level or that important annual report that your executive assistant worked on all day?

Now you have the loss of all that intellectual property and a cost factor associated with it. Let’s just look at the numbers relating to one day of data loss in a company. Your company is 25 employees and all of them work on your computer network throughout the day. To be reasonable we will say they work 6 hours on files, correspondence and other important business data. We will assume that the average rate of pay is $20.00 per hour to be on the conservative side.

In this example, your single day loss of productivity just from a salary perspective is $3,000.00 in lost wages. This number does not account for the lost Intellectual Property, revenues relating to the not getting the proposals out in time and any other expenses relating to not meeting your targets. Also this number does not account for what your IT Company will charge you to recover your data from last night’s tape.

There are great solutions to protect small business today from the loss of data, time, salaries and other expenses associated with data loss. The SonicWALL Continuous Data Protection appliance is a great solution for today’s small business. The CDP backup unit will take all of your corporate data and store it on a device that sits on your network and in real time backs up all of your data as changes are made. So now in the example where your server fails and you suffer a data loss, all of your sales information, accounting data, correspondence and other company data is safely stored on the backup appliance.

This is all great however, many IT people will question the ability to take the data off-site. At least with a tape we can store that data off-site at a secure vault or other storage facility. Fair enough, however the SonicWALL CDP appliance will also back up your data off-site (after the data is backed up on the appliance) at one of their electronic storage facilities. Now you take away the human factor of someone having to handle your tape and risk losing your corporate data because of a lost or stolen tape.

For today’s small business, a robust SonicWALL CDP appliance that will back up your corporate data, allow for versions of your data so you can go back and recover a particular version, and also give your employees that ability to recover their own data. No more tapes, human interaction and other potential issues relating to time. No more point in time backups and now into real time backup with versioning. The potential return on this investment is immediate. A good point in time tape device with software and tapes will cost the same as the backup appliance from SonicWALL.

As a small business owner, you need to be concerned about the loss of your critical corporate data however you shouldn’t be worried about the loss because you can know that you are properly safeguarded from any data loss. Remember, the cost of data loss is a lot more that just the cost of the data you have salaries, potential loss of revenue and many more expenses.

Invest in the technology to safeguard your business.

Stuart Crawford is a business leader in the Calgary, Alberta small business computer consulting business. He is the Director of Business Development for Calgary’s award winning small business IT service organization IT Matters. IT Matters is a SonicWALL Gold Partner and leader in SonicWALL solutions in the Calgary marketplace. He can be reached at scrawford@itmatters.ca.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Stuart_Crawford
http://EzineArticles.com/?Time-to-Abandon-the-Point-in-Time-Backups&id=399964

Oct 27

Data Backup Software
By Eddie Tobey

We live in a world where our electronic data is constantly at risk of being deleted or corrupted. The major reason for the loss of your data could be one of the following: human error (you delete a file by mistake), hardware failure (your hard disk crashes), software corruption, or a virus (that wipes out your data). This is discounting natural or man made calamities like floods, fires, hurricanes, terrorist acts of sabotage or theft.

One regularly reads about some or the other new virus that destroys the data of an entire group of computers. Companies and people who do not pay enough attention to backing up (copying) their data have suffered irreparable losses when their data gets wiped out by any of the factors mentioned above.

It is not only advisable, but also extremely necessary to safeguard the precious data, by backing it up. There are many ways to take backups of the data. Some of the popular devices used are USB flash drives (not feasible for large quantity of data), external hard disks (could be prone to hardware crash), CDs or DVD drives (DVD backups are becoming increasingly popular), online backup and tape drives (despite being obsolete are still in use).

The backing up process requires software. Data backup hardware devices can communicate with the computers through the software programs, which are provided with them. These programs first need to be installed on the computer before you can start the process of backing up the data. Flash drives these days come with internal software and plugging it into most new systems ensures instant recognition and reading and writing to these devices. To make backups on external hard disks, the operating system is adequate. To make a back up on your CD or DVD, you first need a CD or a DVD writer along with the software that allows you to write to it. After these are installed, the data can easily be written (and written quite fast) and the CD or DVD can be stored. To back up the data online, you just need an Internet connection and the ability to upload the file on the Internet. Backing up data on tape drives require a set up which also comes with its the software that assists one to do so.

Backup Software provides detailed information on Backup Software, CD ROM Backup Software, Free Backup Software, Computer Backup Software and more. Backup Software is affiliated with Network Status Monitoring Software.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Eddie_Tobey
http://EzineArticles.com/?Data-Backup-Software&id=408160

Oct 24

The Advantages of Help Desk Support Software
By Kent Pinkerton

Help desk support software is a must-have for any new or existing online business. Even if the majority of your business is off-line, many people prefer online product and service support. Customers want their questions answered quickly and personnel need a way to effectively manage their work. Help desk software is an affordable, easy-to-use and useful tool for the growth of your business.

Some of the benefits of help desk support software may include an increase in customer satisfaction, few calls to call centers, more productivity of personnel, and the ability to determine and better manage issues with your service or products. Consistent feedback can help the growth of your company by keeping you informed on what works and was does not.

Both customers and personnel will benefit from a productive help desk program. Most help desk support software programs allow the end-user to compile a list of FAQ’s to better serve the client base. In cases such as this, many companies choose to automate their help desks. This can save the company both time and money by letting customers find the answers to their own questions. Of course there will be occasions when the FAQ’s do not cover every conceivable troubleshooting issue. Although help desks can be automated, this type of software also allows for more advanced technical support to be offered. Customers can simply submit an inquiry to the appropriate department and expect a timely response. With help desk support software packages, customer and technical support staff are better able to manage and track trouble tickets.

Purchasing a help desk software package can increase your customers’ satisfaction and their desire to continue business with you. Without such a management program, staff can be easily overwhelmed with support calls and emails. Customer support should be the top priority on any business’ agenda. Without a loyal customer base, a company simply will not thrive.

Help Desk Software Info provides detailed information on help desk software solutions, including IT help desk software, web-based help desk software, free help desk software, help desk tracking, help desk support software, and reviews of help desk software programs. Help Desk Software Info is the sister site of Recruiting Software Web.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kent_Pinkerton
http://EzineArticles.com/?The-Advantages-of-Help-Desk-Support-Software&id=62699

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