Anticlue

Infrastructure includes the PC

I love the following scenario:

IT Gal: Hi, I'm you're friendly IT person here. I've been commissioned to update your pc today.

Customer: What does that mean?

IT Gal: We just have to install this new software, but there is a small chance you can lose your pc. Have anything important saved there?

Customer: Oh no, I wouldn't be able to continue to do my job without these files saved here. I've been working for the last 6 months on this project all saved in My Documents.

IT Gal: So how do you back them up?

Customer: What does that mean?

When considering the sanctity of data, be sure not to forget the local PC. In large institutions with very liberal rules regarding PCs, try explaining to the customer that maybe it wasn't the best place to store those very sensitive documents was on the PC. Maybe even institute a policy of what is considered recoverable, and what is not. For departments determined on using the local drives, consider usb hard drives. They are a really easy solution to use, an definitely help with restoring information.