I don’t know if you’ve seen the latest Steven Spielberg movie “Super 8” yet, but if you have, I’m pretty sure you’ll
agree that the train wreck scene in that movie probably has to be one of the most epic crashes ever put on film. I think
I have an idea why that crash is such a memorable scene, and if you’ll indulge me for a second, I’ll give you my theory.
I think this scene is exciting to watch because it’s scary, intense and suspenseful, and best of all, you know it’s not
real and it’s not happening to you.
There’s another kind of crash that I want to talk about for a minute, that’s also scary and intense, but unfortunately
is all too real when it does happen to you. I’m talking about the “train wreck” that usually accompanies a computer crash.
Times have certainly been challenging these past couple of years. Many companies have found themselves stuck in the doldrums, fighting to survive.
For some, the strategy is to “hunker down”, tighten the grip on the wallet and try to simply ride the tough times out. But I believe
there’s another option. I believe companies can GROW themselves out of the doldrums.
I’m not necessarily talking about physical growth, or sales volume growth, I’m talking about the more diverse forms of growth that can be just as helpful.
One of the most immediate and long term
beneficial forms of growth you might want to target is the growth of your people. The employees who have
stood by you in lean times are no doubt as concerned about the long term success of your business (and the resulting continuation of their employment)
as you are. If things are slow, maybe the time is right to invest some time on some internal education. Internal Education is a form of growth that
pays long term dividends, and it doesn’t have to be expensive, in fact, there’s plenty of ways to educate your people for next to nothing.
Think about your Vendors – chances are they are struggling to find ways to move their products through your business, and if you enlist their
help, you’ll probably find willing allies who are more than happy to come in and spend some time teaching your people the finer points of moving their products.
Recent events should be serving as a reminder to each one of us that disasters never visit us on any sort of schedule. Disaster Recovery planning
is never really done, and it’s not the kind of thing that should be looked at once and then put away. Our approach is simple, we start at the
bottom, the core servers where the largest collection of the most important data is, and then work up from there.
With the wealth of solutions at our fingertips today, it's possible to combine both in-house and off-site solutions to make sure you're protected
from whatever happens.
