As a business owner, being without critical information for any length of time can be disastrous. Even though most organisations would be crippled if they are unable to access company data…or worse yet, there was data loss – you may be amazed to learn that many companies still do not have the necessary backup infrastructure in place to prevent the unthinkable from happening. Info Exchange, a leading Jamaican IT consulting firm, offers Backup and Recovery services to businesses in Jamaica and beyond.
Why Backup?
Backing up data is now a standard business practice, and in most industries, it is an operational requirement. With 90 percent of companies going out of business within two years of failing to recover lost data from a major data loss, backing up important files and information using a secure and reliable method has never been so critical.When instituting a backup strategy, there are several factors to consider before choosing a method – factors such as security, reliability, ease of use and cost. These factors can help businesses determine whether an online backup solution such as Info Exchange’s DataVAULT Backup & Recovery service is a better option for businesses than the traditional portable media backup, such as tape.
How Vulnerable is the Cloud Backup vs Tape?
This is an important question and one that should be considered very carefully. While business owners may be wary of backing up their data in the cloud, many of these worries are unwarranted. Backing up data to the cloud versus onto tap provides a multitude of security and reliability advantages.
The majority of companies want to ensure that their critical business data is protected and not accessible to others. With portable media, the tapes or disks themselves can be secure, however, their security greatly depends on whether or not they are stored off-site. And even if the media is moved to a secure facility, there still remains a risk of damage during transport. Cloud backup provides a virtually risk-free method for protecting important business data.
With a Cloud Backup and Recovery service advanced protection is built in. The more robust service offerings will encrypt each data file is encrypted; and for added security, each encrypted file is sent over the Internet via a secure channel using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) technology which is the same
Internet transmission technology that is used for online banking and credit card applications. In choosing your service provider, to ensure redundancy, make sure that their data centers are geographically separated, and carries features such as 24/7 monitoring, advanced security technology such as biometric access controls, backup generators and redundant connections to the Internet.
Reliability
Reliability is also an important factor to consider. Will your data be accessible in the event files need to be restored? Firstly, tapes and disks are infamously failure-prone and are susceptible to damage by the environment and improper handling. They can also be ruined by electromagnetic fields that are, strangely enough, emitted by electronic devices that create the data. Secondly, when there is a need to recover files, many times portable media fails.
According to Microsoft, 42% of attempted recoveries from tape backups in the past year have failed. Storage Magazine reports that over 34% of companies do not test their backups and of those tested 77% found that tape backups failed to restore. Cloud Backup + Recovery solutions such as DataVAULT, stores the encrypted data in a military-grade, SAS 70 certified secure facilities – so you can be sure that your data is recoverable. Overall, cloud backup provides unmatched reliability and security as compared to tape.
Interested in Learning More About Server Backups from Info Exchange?
We hope this blog has helped to clarify some of the issues related to choosing a suitable Backup & Recovery system for your business. If you’re interested in learning more about how to further secure your data using our cloud-based server backups, feel free to reach out to Info Exchange, a leading Jamaican IT consulting firm, today by phone at 876-931-9552, or email us through our contact form on our website.
