A Frightening But True Story - Happy Halloween

This story is from an actual client:

I have been recommending computer monitoring and backup to all of my clients for the last 18 months, why?Here is my real story of what happened to me and my company.

I run a small business consulting firm with a heavy focus on Internet practices. In 2008 we had over 40 clients, as we had grown from a 2 person operation to 8, a great deal of the proprietary and contractual data (contracts, marketing materials, and even web sites) were on my computer.
My computer also had my complete email history for several years, and as many of the decisions we made with clients were completed or approved over email, this history was mission critical. I even had employee reviews and tax documents stored in my every secure documents file.
/*You know were this is going right?*/
I had never had a computer problem I couldn't fix on my own, or with a call to the Dell support group. I considered myself a pretty decent computer fixer.
I updated the anti virus software, ran a defrag on all the computers from time to time, and made sure updates were installed. The fact that I was spending 8 hours a month doing it did bother me a little, but then, I figured I was saving a bundle in repair fees.
/*You still know were this is going right?*/
One Monday my old reliable computer goes absolutely nuts. I am not making this up. It seemed to be possessed. Web sites were opening every half second until I had about 40 open web browsers. Then it just stopped. Quiet. Cold.
Frozen like my heart at that moment. I had a feeling trying the defrag wouldn't help.
So, I turned off the electric for a minute and sat and watched as it tried its hardest to start up.... I could hear its hard drive whizzing...but nothing but a few flickers of this and that on the screen. So, I tried it again. Same thing. And again.
The end of the story is I spent four days with out access to a lot of information I needed , and I spent twice what the computer had cost to recover the data.
I don't know how to value the lost productivity. I spent at least 8 hours of the three days dealing with the problem... so when you add up lost productivity, actual expenses, and the value of peace of mind, its in the thousands for that one little event.
I should mention that the computer repair company I used (from Craig's list) was nice enough to install a bunch of non licensed software, and over 200 albums on my computer as a "gift". The owner (and only employee) told me he had been an Auto Repair mechanic and got into computer repairs as a hobby. He had burned all the music he installed on my computer from CD's in customers cars when then were in for repair. He looked like he had not slept in 3 days when he told me his story, and handed me the bill. I am not making this up.
Needless to say (yet I will anyway) on that day I fully realized the value of both backing up your computer, and monitoring and maintenance and working with a reputable IT company. By spending a few dollars you can have every computer and server remotely monitored and maintained. You don't spend a day a month playing I.T. guy. All the basics are taken care of, and with monitoring, the I.T. company can see if we have any issues that need to be addressed before the computer blows up.
I value my time, and I am sure you do to. My time is billed at $150.00 an hour. But even if it was only $50.00 an hour, I would be saving $400.00 a month in those 8 hours of  I.T. stuff  I use to do with 8 computers.

*So do yourself a favor, sign up at $20.00 *a month per computer for the J.P. Schwartz (a great local I.T. company, and client of mine) monitoring and maintenance program. They are even giving away 2 hours of repairs per computer or server you sign up. see the details here.

If you are in need of immediate assistance, or have had a frightening, but true situation like mine, call J.P. Schwartz, Inc. today, 303-482-1242.

This true story is courtesy of:
Mike Bayes

President, My One Call LLC
12303 Airport Way Suite 200
Broomfield CO. 80021
720 254 1234
303 808 1734 (cell)
www.linkedin.com/in/mikebayes
Twitter: @mikebayes
Blog: www.myonecall.wordpress.com