Backing Up: Why it’s Essential for Your Business

With the vast majority of businesses relying on IT for recording their data, many are seriously underestimating the absolute necessity of backing up that data. In fact it’s estimated by 123-reg that one in ten businesses fail to backup their valuable information, meaning that your business could be just minutes away from disaster.

Backing Up Regularly

It’s not just about backing up your data either; it’s about backing it up regularly.  Let’s say that you’ve backed up your data within the last month, but your sales department has won several big clients in the past few weeks. If your server gets infected with a virus, you could lose the information for those clients since you last backed up, meaning that you’re only going to be able to speak to them if or when they call in asking why products or services haven’t been delivered yet.

Planning Ahead

With the flooding that we’ve seen recently in the area, it’s not just physical business assets that can be destroyed. In a recent survey less than a fifth of businesses reported that they’d be able to survive after losing their data. Many businesses face the potential threat of hackers and virus attacks, and the loss of your valuable information could just be an email attachment away! The sad truth of the matter is that many business owners don’t realise how much data loss will affect then until it actually happens, so the best thing you can do in terms of preserving your data is to have a solid strategy in place for such an eventuality before it’s too late to call on the support of IT specialists.

The Cloud vs. Manual Storage

There are a variety of different options when it comes to backing up your company’s information. One of the most inexpensive ways to do this quickly is to use a cloud-based service. These are usually subscription-based packages, and they will come with different built-in pricing structures according to the amount data storage that’s needed. There are many different cloud-based services out there, but as with most things in life, it really is a case of getting the service that you pay for. You should take into account that cloud-based businesses could also lose your data if they cease to trade.

If you’d prefer to have a more hands-on approach to backing up data, another option is to have a secondary physical server that’s based away from your company’s location. With the appropriate software installed, this server will constantly and automatically mirror the information stored on your main server, or company’s computers. This option has a more expensive initial outlay, but unlike the cloud-based service, you won’t have to continually pay a subscription fee.

The backup option you choose is up to you, but you really shouldn’t just leave the security of your data to chance. Make sure that you do take action to make sure that your company would survive the impact of significant data loss, as the cost of backing up data is a small price to pay for the implications that hardware or software failure could mean for your business.

If you have any questions or queries or doubts relating to your current IT security issues, don’t hesitate to call us on 01524 582 690 for more information. We provide our IT services to SMEs throughout Lancaster, Preston and throughout the North West.