Cloud Computing proved very cloudy this week precautions you must take before concidering using cloud services

     

Things got very hot and very dangerous all at the same time this week  as violent storms  crisscrossed the East Coast during record breaking heat for late June of 2012 and knocked out power to millions and took a dozen lives.  radar maps like the above example you can find on the weather channel where solid red in some areas the storms where so violent .The result Cloud computing started crashing as server farms started going down everywhere. Flickster, Amazon ,Pintrest etc. all went down and in some cases may be down for a week for smaller outfits. With this in mind imagine now you where sold on a package of goods by a computing firm who have put all your business records on the cloud.
Now what do you do you can not access any thing? I saw this happen to a furniture store client 6 years ago when they first went on the cloud.  They could not view any records or contacts or previous sales or make sales etc. it was a total and complete logistical night mare.
So before you go signing up with a cloud based server program for your business . Ask your self if the cloud goes down can I still operate? Do I have files backed up some where? are they accessible ?
Who has access and how do I get to them? 
If you backed up to some one like Carbonite and can not now get to them your basically screwed.
This is why it is always important to have a local file back up so even if Internet service is down you can still operate be it limited capacity but your business will not suffer .You will also want to back up files more than one place have one copy at business another in a bank deposit box etc. It is amazing how many businesses have absolutely no back ups in place and when cloud , internet or even a single computer goes down there goes all there files.
Back up systems today are simple plug in USB  units which can store several terabytes and for under $300.00  and self install with there own software all you do is plug it in and answer a few questions.   Keep in mind also how you store your digital media
store it in a combination  Fire Proof and  Data Safe   lock box or safe  a standard fire safe is not acceptable and data could get destroyed. thats why more than one location for back ups.
Otherwise be prepared to spend thousands of dollars recovering data which may or may not be recoverable. the cloud is not a safe and friendly environment they make it out to be you must take precautions or be prepared to loose your business.  Even just simply backing files to a flash drive could mean success or failure. just do not think about it do it I have.