Data backup can make or break a business

All of the recent rain has reminded us that, yes, Colorado is vulnerable to flooding – quite often, in fact. This has a dramatic impact on local companies and can even put some out of business if their IT systems are destroyed because of a natural disaster.

Have you stopped to think about the safety of your data over the past few weeks? If this rain continues, is your data backed up and protected?

Data backup is vital to the well-being of any business. If your mission-critical files are erased forever, the stress and costs associated with restoring your business back to normal can be astronomical. Shockingly, 70 percent of businesses that suffer a major data loss will go bankrupt within one year.

Loss of data can come in many forms: natural disasters such as fires or floods, theft, user errors such as accidental erasing, and component failures and hard-drive crashes.

Downtime can lead to loss of business, which can have devastating impacts on the well-being of your business and brand. In a perfect world, your data should be backed up in three separate locations: physically on your PC, on an external device in-house, and through an off-site solution such as cloud storage or local servers. There has always been a debate on which off-site solution is best, but I believe it is all based on the needs of your business. The following should help decipher what’s the best fit for you.

Online/cloud backup

Advantages: Online backup solutions don’t utilize any hardware or software associated with local storage, leading to a lower overall cost to store data. It’s also accessible; because cloud platforms run on the Internet, you can access your data from any connected device.

Disadvantages: If you need to restore your data, it takes a great deal of time to download your files over the Internet. Online data restoration normally requires two to seven days to complete, depending on the strength of your Internet connection and the size of your files. And while new technologies are combating cloud security issues, there are still inherent risks associated with the remote data storage. 

Local backup

Advantages: Local data servers generally have higher security parameters and firewalls to control the inflow and outflow of traffic. Restoring data from a server doesn’t require data to be transmitted over the Internet, which vastly decreases downtime in the case of a data breach. In some instances, networks can be restored within a few hours.

Disadvantages: With local backups, you pay to “rent” space on a server for your data. Most providers will perform monthly maintenance checks on the backup, which results in a higher fee. Also, if the data you want backed up exceeds the storage allowed on the server, your options are limited. That’s why it’s important to back up only the most vital documents your business needs to operate.

Hans Broman, a sales and marketing strategist at iPoint in Fort Collins, can be reached at hbroman@ipoint-tech.com.

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