Getting Data Offsite
As a business owner, you realize that critical business data not only has to be backed up, but also must be taken offsite as part of a disaster recovery plan. In addition, compliancy and litigation concerns may compel you to insure that your data backup procedures are verifiable.
For many small and medium size businesses, this process involves using tapes to store the data. The tapes are then physically taken offsite and kept in a secure location.
However, tape backups are insufficient for both storing data and establishing a process for restoring it completely. Also, the process of handling and storing tapes offsite is suspect for many organizations: tapes being kept in the back seat of your IT manager’s car is cause for concern.
Online Remote Solutions
Online data backup solutions are an alternative to using tape backups. These solutions take advantage of software and internet conductivity to consistently transfer data to an offsite server via the Internet.
Many of these solutions also have the ability to backup entire applications and operating systems, so beyond just the raw data, the infrastructure that allows the system to function can also be restored for rapid business continuity in the event of disaster at your main work facility.
Online backup solutions are customizable so the most critical data is backed up more frequently, but at the same time the process is highly automated, so individual workers get backups without having to manually insure the process happens.
Advantages of Online Data Backup
Advantages of online, remote data backup include:
- Automated backup with managed procedures
- No need to physically remove data from business site
- Remote access to backed up data
- Security through encryption and password protection
- Rapid restore of data, applications, and operating systems
- Data protection verification for compliance and legal concerns
Online Backup Costs
Online, remote data backup solutions are an upgrade from tapes and you can expect to pay more for this type of service. In most cases, however, the advantages will outweigh the costs, particularly if you have to restore large amounts of data or find yourself facing compliance or legal issues where a data restore is critical.
Usually online backup services charge based on the amount of data you store on a monthly basis.
It is worth considering that you may not have to backup all of your business data with an online solution. In some cases you may archive data that never changes with a cost saving solution, and use the online solution for critical data where there can be no question about the backup process or the ability to quickly restore the data when required.
Backing up with tape is cheap but risky. It is questionable if physically handling tapes to get them offsite is in fact reasonable procedure, especially if it done on a daily basis.
Online backup is a more secure and reliable solution that pays off when essential data has to be restored and the process must be essentially fail proof.