My internet was down for half the day today. I use Comcast for my internet at the shop and they have been great. I think the service has only been down twice in the year that I've been using them.
Luckily I use Square credit card processing. My Square system provides me with a chip reader that also is capable of accepting Apple Pay, Android Pay and whatever other pay programs are out there.
With Square I usually use my Ipad and the internet to process credit card transactions. But, with the internet down I had the option of using my Iphone with my data plan to process credit cards during the down time.
The only difference was that my Iphone screen is much smaller than the Ipads screen.
No one seemed to mind though.
Besides having a backup plan (or Plan B) for the credit card processor I also have a backup plan for all my files. I use a cloud based system and a USB stick to back up all my store files. I've done this from the beginning and it has been working seamlessly. I am able to access any files from my home computer or my laptop whenever I need them.
Everyone is now offering free cloud based services to back up your files to. You are able to store a sizable amount of data for free but if you need to store alot of data there will be a nominal fee.
So I don't use up all my free data space I do use a USB stick to save all my wood working patterns on. I also keep a paper copy of alot of my patterns. Monogram patterns that I created in the past I save just in case someone needs a duplicate but I only save them on a USB stick. It's all the other patterns and designs that I keep an original paper copy. Someday I may decide to break away from paper completely but not yet.
Please remember to back up your own data frequently and enjoy your day,
Shirley