Is your business prepared for a cybersecurity attack or other technology disaster? How long could you afford to be without your critical data and operational software?
If you haven’t taken the time to prepare on an online backup plan, you may end up finding out the hard way.
The volume of data lost by businesses has increased by over 400 percent in recent years. It is estimated that a loss of only 100 or fewer files can cost a business between $18,120 and $35,730.
Avoid becoming another statistic by taking steps today to safeguard yourself with online backup for businesses.
What is Online Backup for Businesses?
In its simplest form, online backup is a system that securely replicates your information and stores a copy in the cloud. Online backup for businesses essentially works the same as personal cloud storage backups, but the stakes are much higher.
Questions to Ask When Choosing a Back-Up Service
Knowing what questions to ask can help you to choose the best plan for your needs.
How Many Days Does My Backup Cover?
Some online backup for business plans provide service for an unlimited number of days. Others backup the past 30, 60, or 90 days. Your needs may vary depending on your industry and the type of data that you are storing.
Where is My Data Stored?
Backups should always be kept away from your physical business location. Online backups should also be stored in multiple locations across the country. This is also known as geo-redundancy and it protects your business from going down as a result of an area-wide outage.
What are Your RTO and RPO Parameters?
Recovery time objective (RTO) is the length of time that you can expect to be down in the event of a data loss. Recovery Point Objective (RPO) refers to the amount of data loss that is considered to be acceptable. As a business owner, you must decide how much risk you are comfortable taking.
What is My Level of Responsibility?
The most effective online backup for businesses use automated software to minimize the chance of human error. This allows you to set it and forget it, never having to go back and confirm that your backup was completed successfully.
What Security Precautions Can I Expect?
Data privacy and security should be protected with military-grade encryption. Offsite storage facilities should have extensive safeguards in place to maintain security. Every company that comes into contact with your data should have a privacy policy.
How Difficult is a Restoration?
Your online backup service should retain multiple copies of each of your files to allow for simple and reliable restoration. Customer service should be readily available to help with any problems that come up during the restoration process.
Offsite data backup is relatively inexpensive and easy to use. When you consider the time and money that a data loss can cost you, you will soon realize that it’s worth every penny.
Do you have questions about how to choose the best backup plan for your business? We would love to help! Contact us today.