Keep recovery in the plan
Keelfort IT helps Belfast sole traders and small teams review what needs protecting and plan practical next steps for backups. Start with your existing files, devices and cloud services so the advice fits how your business works.
Common problems
What is included
A useful plan identifies what you need, where a recoverable copy is kept and who can access it when the usual device or account is unavailable. It also considers the age of the copy and the time needed to restore it.
Keelfort focuses on basic planning and clearly scoped support. Continuous backup monitoring, formal disaster-recovery guarantees and specialist recovery are not included in this starter service.
List the files, business email, shared folders and application data you would need if a laptop failed or an account became inaccessible. Record where each item lives, who is responsible for it and how it could be recovered. This gives a backup discussion a useful starting point.
Keelfort offers basic backup planning as part of small-business IT support. Describe your devices, Microsoft 365 use and current backup arrangements. Any setup work, storage, subscriptions or specialist recovery requirements are assessed and quoted separately.
Practical starting point
Use this checklist to prepare for a backup discussion. Record the actual location and owner of each item; do not put passwords or customer data in your enquiry.
| Business information | Question to check |
|---|---|
| Working files | Are quotes, current jobs and shared documents stored locally, in the cloud or in both? |
| Email and shared files | Which mailboxes, OneDrive accounts and SharePoint sites matter to daily work? |
| Business applications | Where do your accounts, orders and customer records live, and what export or recovery options does the provider offer? |
| Website and configuration | Who holds recoverable website files, configuration records and the details needed to contact your providers? |
| Recovery arrangements | Who checks backups, and when was a sample restore last tested without overwriting live work? |
Cloud services may offer version history and deleted-file recovery, but their limits vary. The NCSC advises keeping an independent copy of critical data and checking how to access and restore it. A recovery plan should cover loss of access as well as accidental deletion.
For example, a small office might find that shared documents are protected but its accounts export remains only on one laptop. Listing both locations makes that gap visible before equipment fails.
Further reading: NCSC: back up your organisation’s critical data and NCSC: data security and testing backups.
Before you book
Support is provided by Stuart McIntosh, owner of Keelfort IT. Contact Stuart to confirm availability, scope and the expected cost.
Discuss your problemStart with information needed to keep operating: working documents, customer and supplier records, business email, shared files and essential application data. Check every storage location rather than assuming everything is on one computer.
Sync keeps files available across devices, but changes and deletions can also sync. Version history and deleted-file recovery can help, subject to their limits. Check whether your important data has an independent recoverable copy and how long it is retained.
Choose the frequency around how much recent work the business could afford to lose. A frequently changing order file may need a different schedule from an archive. Also consider how quickly you need to restore access.
Guaranteed recovery and specialist data recovery are not included in basic backup planning. If data has already been lost, describe what happened before attempting changes. Keelfort will explain when a specialist is needed.
Tell us what is happening
Use the enquiry form or email directly. Include your device, postcode and a short description. Never send a password or verification code.
Start an enquiry hello@keelfort.co.uk