IT Disaster Recovery and Backup Solutions

You backup your data regularly and you think you’re prepared to handle a disaster, right? Think again! Disaster recovery requires much more than a routine data backup. Cloud technology, virtualisation and colocation can add layers of complexity. Without a robust plan in place, your business is at risk.

What are Disaster Recovery and Backups?

Disaster recovery (DR) planning and backups are an integral part of any business’s IT strategy, becoming even more of a necessity as security breaches and network outages have become common threats.

Disaster recovery is a strategic security planning model that seeks to protect an organisation from the effect of a man-made or natural disasters, such as a cyber-attack or flood. A disaster recovery plan aims to maintain critical functions before, during and after a disaster meaning minimal disruption to business continuity.

Backups are the copying of data into a secondary form (i.e. cloud storage) which can be used to restore the original file in the event of a disaster. Learn more about data backup solutions for your business here.

Why is Data Backup and Recovery so Important?

Data loss can happen in many different ways and just because your organisation has been lucky enough so far to avoid a huge disaster, this doesn’t mean your luck will always hold. Instead, ensure full protection and implement a disaster recovery plan today.

No disaster recovery strategy works without backup

Shocking statistics show that approximately 98% of businesses do not back up their data daily, and around 43% of businesses that do undergo a critical data loss disaster (and who don’t have a data recovery plan), never re-open. Considering an organisations existence is dependent on data, backup strategies need to be more than just an after-thought in the recovery planning process.

How long would data recovery take?

We find that most businesses actual IT backup services haven’t been reviewed for many years and staff are blindly changing tapes each day with the understanding that it’s all working just fine. This is often not the case.

So is it on-premise? Offsite? Or is it a combination of both?

We wish there was one silver bullet solution when it comes to disaster preparedness, but every company is different and each business needs a process in place that will work for them.

We’ve outlined what the possible approaches to IT backup services look like:

An ‘on-premise’ and ‘offsite’ approach

An on-premise approach means that all data has been backed up locally to a tape, disk or other media - an important component of the backup strategy. To address concerns related to on-premise backup, many organisations choose to add an off-site backup. This is where data has been backed up to removable media and taken to a secure location.

A combination/hybrid approach

The latest IT backup services, widely referred to as “cloud backup” can simplify on-premise and off-site backups, whilst reducing the costs associated with these and help to increase reliability. These technologies allow you to combine local and off-site backups in one solution, enabling you to keep large files like databases on-site, and all other files and data types are sent to the company’s remote cloud data centres. This combination ensures speed, reliability, quick recovery, compliance and cost reduction.

We’ve worked with a range of businesses to help find solutions that work, to come up with an IT backup services that work. So, if you’re looking to find out more about what IT backup services might be best for your business, call us today on 01753 540000 for advice from our IT experts.