Using funeral home management software, paired with a 3-2-1 backup system to protect against multiple risks, is the best way to keep your deathcare business data safe and accessible.
During 2024, there were 27 confirmed natural disasters in the U.S. that each caused losses of more than $1 billion–including drought, flooding, severe storms, cyclones, wildfire, and winter storms (1). If your business happened to be located in one of the affected regions–especially those that experienced flooding or fires– you know firsthand either the value of a data backup system, or the perils of not having one.
The funeral home industry is especially vulnerable to losing critical data, since often records are still kept on paper and if there are digital copies they are likely to exist only onsite at the place of business. Over the years, we have seen countless people lose their data in fires, tornadoes, floods, and other disasters–which may include technology failure.
Last year, we had a customer who hosted their own data onsite. Their server crashed, and the last backup was from 2018 so they lost years of records.
You might be thinking, “well, if technology can fail, paper records are still best.” Keep in mind, however, that no single method of record-keeping is totally immune from potential loss. To ensure you won’t lose records required to run your business, you need a robust system that protects against multiple risks.
This means that you are at high risk of losing vital data if, for example, you have only a single copy of paper records at your place of business or a single copy of digital records stored on a local computer. Hard drives can fail. Paper records can burn, dissolve in floodwater, or be misplaced.
What constitutes an effective data backup system for your funeral home today? It should include the basic principles of the 3-2-1 backup rule for digital data, first proposed by photographer Peter Krogh in 2005 (2). That rule says you should have:
- Three copies of your data–original plus two backups
- Backup copies on two different media types
- One backup copy stored offsite (3)
Since it’s likely you want or need to also keep records on paper, we recommend you consider digital as your primary copy, and use paper as a backup by printing copies and keeping them organized at your place of business for reference purposes.
For digital backup, technology has changed quite a bit since 2005. You don’t need to worry anymore about tape, floppy discs, CDs,or USB sticks. Instead, follow the 3-2-1 rule with:
- 1 copy of data on your computer (original)
- 1 copy of data on an external hard drive (different media, onsite)
- 1 copy of data in the cloud (offisite)
Optionally, you could keep 1 copy of printed records, which also meets the “different media” and “onsite” criteria. Keep in mind that paper records are best kept as a reference backup, and not as the working copy. Not only are paper records vulnerable to fire, water, and other risks, they can also easily be misplaced and are only accessible by staff or clients onsite. Today’s clients expect the ability to do business digitally.
The good news is that using funeral home management software in your business offers peace of mind and flexibility that isn’t possible with paper. Our platform, The Director’s Assistant® Web, makes offsite backup easy since we host your data; if your region experiences a disaster, natural or other, you will be able to continue serving your customers. Included free in the TDAW license is a feature called Record Image Collector, which lets you store and manage records securely, with no storage limit.
Contact us anytime to discuss how TDAW® funeral home management software enables you to keep your deathcare business data organized, accessible, and safe–while meeting the expectations clients have in the digital era.
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Footnotes
- Natural disasters in the U.S.: National Centers for Environmental Information, “Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters.”
- Origin of 3-2-1 rule: U.S. Chamber of Commerce, “What Is the 3-2-1 Backup Rule?”
- Basics of 3-2-1 rule: ComputerWeekly.com, “The 3-2-1 backup rule: Has cloud made it obsolete?”
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This blog post is co-authored by Mae Kowalke and Wes Johnson.
Mae Kowalke
Digital Marketing Lead, Continental Computers
Mae grew up in rural Washington State and Vermont. In high school, she worked in public libraries and during college began her career in journalism before segueing into digital marketing. Mae holds a B.A. in Communications and has spent over two decades applying her writing superpower to help businesses communicate the value they bring to customers. Mae’s life experiences provide her with a broad and deep understanding of researching, organizing, and communicating meaningful information to both businesses and consumers.
Wes Johnson
President/CEO, Continental Computers
Wes grew up in the southern United States as an underprivileged child, and went on to serve active duty in the U.S. Army for a decade. Wes holds a B.S. in accounting and an MBA, and is a practicing licensed funeral director. These life experiences provide him with a unique perspective in the death-care industry. He understands the dynamics between the family and the funeral director, including the difficulty families face to pay for funerals. “Let’s solve problems together,” he says.
