Digital Preservation for Small Businesses: An Introductory Guide

Digital information plays a central role in most aspects of our lives. Running a small business is no exception. Important information that would once have been produced on paper is now created, shared and maintained as digital information (for example, annual reports, minutes of meetings, contracts and other legal agreements, publicity or marketing materials, financial returns and correspondence). Small businesses create all these types of digital information and more, and need to ensure they can be accessed for as long as necessary, but digital materials are complex and require proactive management. It can be hard to know where to start, particularly if you work for a small organization with no support from IT or records management specialists. 

The advice contained within this introductory guide focuses on common sense management of digital information and highlights actions you can incorporate into your day-to-day working practices in order to have greater confidence in your ability to manage and preserve the valuable information that you hold.  

Whilst the advice within this guide was written with small businesses in mind, the guide may be helpful for any small-medium organization that is interested in starting to better manage their digital information for the longer term. 

READ DIGITAL PRESERVATION FOR SMALL BUSINESSES: AN INTRODUCTORY GUIDE

Acknowledgements

The guide was originally commissioned by ARCW, funded by The National Archives (UK) through the Covid-19 Archives Fund and was created by the Digital Preservation Coalition. It is published under an Open Government Licence.

Versions

The original version of the guidance, published by ARCW in August 2022 is aimed at small businesses in Wales and is available here. A Welsh language version is also available. 

The version of this guidance published here on the DPC’s website has undergone some minor updates to make it more applicable to an international audience.