Words: Steve Brown
What is backup?
A backup is a copy of computer data stored elsewhere. If data is deleted, corrupted, or inaccessible, backups allow for recovery.
There is:
- Physical Backup: storing data on devices e.g. USB flash drives.
- Server Backup: data uploaded on to on-premises or cloud-based servers.
There are pros and cons to both server backups:
- On-premises Backup: Data controlled by the organisation and not reliant on an internet connection but has up-front costs and requires space and personnel.
- Cloud Backup: Accessibility due to low investment needed and flexibility via scalability, customisation, and location freedom, but requires trust in another organisation, an internet connection, and continuous subscription costs.
Service providers exist for both. At FluidOne, our Managed Backup Services can handle everything from cloud-backups to safeguarding on-premises servers.
What is DR?
Backup is a part of DR – a process that focuses on IT infrastructure maintenance and reestablishment post-disaster.
A DR plan requires these steps:
- Risk assessment
- Choosing recovery objectives
- Actions
- Testing and review
At FluidOne, our Managed IT Services team can develop your plans and provide solutions:
- Backup
- Moving to the Cloud
- Hosted Solutions
- Intelligent Monitoring
- High Availability DR
- High Bandwidth Connectivity
- Mobile Device Management Software
- Enterprise-Grade Data Encryption
- Private networking technologies
Importance of DR
Natural and man-made disasters can befall businesses, from floods to hacking. Here are three reasons why a DR plan is needed for when such events occur:
Data loss protection
Sales statistics, employee information, financial data – both a company’s current operations and their future strategy development can be harmed by lost data.
Compliance
Most jurisdictions regulate data protection and DR planning – e.g. GDPR in the EU. Failure to comply with regulations could result in punishment, such as fines.
Financial implications
DR planning costs can be very expensive, but the cost of a disaster could be limitless, through both the expenditures to deal with the issue and lost revenue.
Conclusion
Protecting data is a matter of corporate survival, which strategies like backup and DR can help to ensure. With so much at stake it can be prudent to seek advice.
At FluidOne, we are happy to discuss your concerns.
You can reach us online at info.fluidone.com/book-a-meeting-business-it, call us at 0114 292 3800 or email sheffieldenquiries@fluidone.com.
