I was employed at the General Headquarters of my church for a season. I don’t know how we ever got anything done, because computers hadn’t infiltrated the workflow yet. But I was very tech savvy, for I had the distinction of owning a Kaypro II, dual 5.25” floppy, CP/M-based pc. It was portable (That means it was portable in the same sense that a 75 pound piece of luggage is portable). And I only paid $1,800 for it, which in today’s money is a mere $4,496.
One day I loaded my Kaypro II on a hand truck along with my Epson daisy-wheel printer and took it on a field trip to my office for a project. According to my memory, it cast a sense of awe over the office when a marvel boasting 64 kb of RAM came through the door. It was bidness time!
In retrospect, how laughable. By today’s standards, my Kaypro is about as high tech as an Etch-A-Sketch.
I joked in the beginning, wondering how we got any work done in 1980 without computers. But today it is no joke. Watch the office when the power goes out. I’ve heard people remark, “I may as well go home.” That illustrates how the tools of our trades are so digital we are basically useless when phones fry, hard drives hiccup, or electricity is out. Or you drop your phone in the toilet.
If you’re looking for some cheap insurance against digital peril, here’s a quick list.
- A battery backup is a great idea for wireless routers, pcs, switches, and the like. I even have one on a lamp at my office. An inexpensive backup system will bridge a gap for 10 minutes or so and will cost around $80. This prevents problems caused by brownouts or electrical interruptions. For a lot more money, you can buy hours of backup power, but unless you work in New Guinea, most power grids are stable and a few minutes is all you need.
- Speaking of backups, there are very reasonable data backup plans that are cloud-based, i.e. Carbonite, iDrive, or CrashPlan. I’ve had a hard disk crash, and though restoring my data took a long time, I didn’t lose anything. And remember, you do get what you pay for. I only pay about $60/year for my service. If you want fast backup restoration, you can buy fast if you need fast. (PCMAG.com did a very good comparison of systems in May of 2015.)
- About mobile phones. Don’t worry. (Not that your phone won’t leave you stranded, but who by worrying can add a single minute of life to a dead battery?) Sync your phone with your computer as often as you remember. Though you’ll pay through the nose for a new phone (or the insurance), at least you’ll have your most recent data.
- Finally for those laptops and phones that WILL run out of juice when you can least afford it, keep a flock of power chords at your various locations. If you’re cheap and don’t want to maintain an entire flock, keep something for your phone and laptop in your car. We are rarely more than a few minutes from our vehicle.