Backing up your data is a vital component of a solid IT strategy but it can often be overlooked. When you “backup” you make copies of your files or entire system so if there is any sort of disaster or your files are lost, damaged or infected you can restore them instantly and, ideally, without any trouble.

What are the main causes of data loss?

Data loss can be caused by many different things, the most common being a human error, the physical failure of your pc, theft, lost devices, disasters like fires and copious amounts of spilt teas and coffees. Users can also fall into the bad habits of storing things in only one place such as their personal drives. This means that if they accidentally changed or deleted their files it could take considerable time or expense to restore it. This either being their time to rewrite the document or the time spent by IT in an attempt to recover the files.

Currently, there is a growing risk to data and files from viruses and malware as some have been designed to delete, corrupt or even hold your business information ransom. This is another reason why backing up your data is such an important thing to do.

What files and data should you backup?

Identifying what information to backup is a key starting point for any good backup strategy to ensure all your business-critical data is secure.

Would you be able to continue working if your PC were either stolen or damaged? What consequences would you face if your client’s contact details, prospects email addresses or even your company’s financial accounts were suddenly gone? Or perhaps, even more disastrously, what would the consequences of a complete network failure be?

Data is the lifeblood of modern organisations and this information is likely to have taken months if not years to gather and collate. Think of how disruptive and expensive the damage would be if you lost access to this information, both in terms of productivity, resource and reputation. These are all key factors that should be incorporated into your backup and disaster recovery strategy.  

How do you backup data?

There are several types of backups solutions you can choose from. Most likely your choice will be dictated by your budget, the time you need the solution implemented in, the type of data you need to backup and the level of data security you require.

Some organisations still rely on tape which is considered rather slow, manual, repetitive. However, if your budget is tight and you don’t mind the time-consuming aspects it can be a reasonable option, as long as you ensure to employ best practice methods which include ensuring a reasonable tape rotation and that tapes are stored off-site.

For some businesses, the easiest and best way to go is to reach out to a backup specialist. By outsourcing to an external partner, organisations take the headache out of backup and disaster recovery for their IT team. This allows their team to focus on more pressing issues whilst also providing the peace of mind that their data and critical business information is secure.

Why us?

We have provided specialist backup solutions to multi-national companies for over 10 years and are one of the UK’s leading backup companies. We specialise in cost-effective, secure onsite and cross-site backups for medium to large organisations. Our bespoke backup and disaster recovery solution is designed, and created by us, giving us complete control.

We are not a reseller and as such we are able to provide a cost-effective managed backup service without the price tag of many of the big-name suppliers.  With our solution, you will receive a fully managed service from £8,000.

Download our guide to understand the benefits of our fully managed service and take the headache out of backing up your business-critical data today.