When did you last Backup your important data? IT Support

When was your last backup?

When was the last backup that WORKED?

Did the backup include all critical systems, or just some data?

How much would it cost you to lose everything prior to that backup?

We can help you design (and manage) flexible, secure backup procedures that fit with your business and budget.

Every business has different Backup needs.

It is important to protect your data – it is a valuable business asset, but not every piece of data needs to be in Fort Knox. And not every backup solution needs to be high tech.

Sometimes a backup solution involves a few different levels of security. Some companies like to have everything automated and others prefer to have their existing staff trained to handle the backups manually.

Below are a few questions to get you thinking about your backup plan.

What data is valuable?

Some files (like extensive HR or safety documents) could be expensive to replace, while other documents might become irrelevant as soon as the order is finished. A Photographer who couldn’t keep his clients wedding photos safe would soon lose their reputation, but a pool shop might not be worried about losing their customers last chlorine order.

Working out which data you really need to secure, and how much it would cost you to replace that data is one of the first steps in deciding on a backup plan.

Remember – if you would have to pay your staff to re-enter or re-create that data then you can put a price on how much it’s worth.

Your data is a business asset.

How often does it need to be backed up?

Those HR manuals would be painful (and expensive) to re-create, but they probably don’t get changed very often, so monthly or even 6 monthly backups could work. On the other hand, Emails tend to be more relevant when they are fresh, so you’d probably want more frequent backups there. MYOB files are in between – you still need to keep the older records, but you don’t want to have to re-enter more than a couple of weeks if you can help it.

Onsite or Offsite Backups?

Onsite backups cover you if your hard drives dies. RAID Redundancy is a standard backup solution where you have a server with 2 hard drives mirroring each other. If one drive fails you simply replace it – all of the information is still there on the second drive. NAS Drives with RAID Backups are a good solution for a small business.

Offsite backups protect your data even if the office burns down. These can be done on an automated schedule via Cloud Backup(backing up over the internet to a host server), or it could be as simple as taking a thumb drive home every Friday.

If you back up your MYOB files to a thumb drive and take it home with you every Friday – that’s an offsite backup solution.

How much data do you need to Backup?

The amount of data to be backed up makes a big difference to your backup plan. MYOB files and those pesky HR documents are quite small, so they are well suited to cloud backup or even thumb drives.

Large files (like Wedding Photos) take up a lot more space. Trying to back that much data to the cloud would take a big internet plan, so external hard drives stored offsite might be a more appealing solution.

Make a plan to protect your data

It doesn’t need to be complicated or expensive, and we can help you because we know the latest technology, which brands to buy and the pros and cons of different methods.