Planners save info by sending it away

It isevery planner’s nightmare — the entire client database lost.

In larger dealer groups there are sophisticated back-up systems, meaning that whatever has been lost can be restored.

However, for small to medium-sized practices that operate off a networked PC system, the loss can be irretrievable. Sometimes databases can be reconstructed but at a crippling cost.

It was the idea of providing off-site back-up for small companies that sent Kieran Barr, managing director of The Datavault, looking into developing a secure system.

“People do lose databases. The bigger companies have an effective means of looking after data, but I started wondering about those smaller companies operating off PCs,” Barr says.

The company started looking into ways of storing data off-site to protect against fire, theft or malicious employees.

For a system to be effective it had to back-up data without problems and without delay. The data also had to be in a format to enable it to be returned to the client if they needed their files back.

“We initially thought of using broadband to handle backing up all the data on a computer, but then we thought you didn’t need to back-up all the software, only what has happened on that day.”

By backing up only the changes, the client delivers a back-up of the complete database at the start of the contract. This keeps the amount of data to be transmitted down to manageable levels.

“We saw broadband wasn’t the solution because many people didn’t have access to the system. By only downloading that day’s changes, you are dealing with small files. It also meant we could develop a system that can support about 300 to 400 clients comfortably,” Barr says.

The updated data is sent by telephone lines overnight. The Datavault calls up and interrogates the clients’ computers and downloads the updates using the same encoding as the banks. This means The Datavault cannot read the files it is downloading. Barr claims the system is secure from hackers.

“If a client then loses their database, we burn a CD-ROM of the latest version of the database and they can download this into their PCs,” he says.

The cost for the service is about $50 a month.

Melbourne-based planner Kerry Sharp, who runs his own practice, uses the service.

“I have found it works very well backing up my files daily and at weekends. I still burn a hard-disk copy (of the client files) every three months, but really there is no need now,” he says.

Sharp says the back-up helps him meet compliance and privacy requirements as the data is protected.

“I have an obligation to keep safe copies of my files and these have to be up-to-date. If I do a file note, I know it will be on the back-up system and that can be recovered.”