Tag Archives: backup disaster recovery

Why Every Business Needs Backup Disaster Recovery Solutions

Data Backup, ,
Businesses need a strong plan in place for data recovery in order to protect themselves and their customers, yet many still do not.

Businesses need a strong plan in place for data recovery in order to protect themselves and their customers, yet many still do not.

Any business that stores important business and customer data should have a backup recovery contingency plan in place. Many small and medium-sized businesses grossly underestimate the effect of data loss on businesses, and as a result put themselves in a precarious position that could come back to bite them. Just a few small steps can help to protect data from potential loss, with very little resources required. There is truly no excuse for not putting these simple measures in place when growing a business. Businesses have relatively few reasons why they shouldn’t prepare for data loss disasters, but many reasons why they should.

Companies Rarely Test Their Backups

According to Boston Computing, very few companies actively test the backups that they create. Even fewer stick to a rigid backup schedule, despite the fact that there are many automatic backup solutions available. Even if your company is performing backups, you must make sure that you are actively testing those backups to ensure that the data stored on them was stored without issue and no further failures have taken place. Make sure that you are actively testing your backups and ensuring that the data stored on them is reliable for data restoration, should data loss take place.

All Hardware Fails Eventually

There isn’t a single piece of tech hardware available today that will be working seamlessly 50 years from now with regular use. Your hardware systems are going to fail, it’s just a matter of when. When that failure occurs, it is important that you not only have taken steps to ensure that data is not lost forever, but have a plan in place with a backup disaster recovery company that can be quickly put into action to mitigate the losses that your business suffers. Do not place a lot of faith in the hardware that you are using and makes sure that you back up your data across several iterations to ensure that no data is lost when your hardware does fail.

Human Error is a Huge Risk

According to a study from the IT Policy Compliance Group, human error is the number one reason for lost data among businesses. Employees can accidentally delete records, forget to backup information, and generally mishandle data. It is important that your business has the proper policies in place to mitigate this risk. Employees should be trained on properly storing and handling your sensitive business data, and even then you can bet that some data will slip through the cracks. Having the right systems in place can help to reduce the risk of data being lost as a result of human error.

Plan Ahead

The first and best step that any business can take is to contact a backup disaster recovery (BDR) service provider and work with them to put a plan together that will suit your business needs. There is a large amount of risk that comes with data loss. Most companies that suffer a data disaster are truly never able to fully recover, and many end up shutting their doors if their sensitive business data can not be recovered. Having a plan in place and taking proper precautions will help to not only reduce the chances of data loss effecting your business, but will also make the recovery and cleanup process much more streamlined.

If you would like to ensure that your business is safe from potential issues associated with data loss, please contact us today to schedule your initial 100% risk-free consultation. We’ll walk you through the process of protecting your business, while helping you implement backup and data storage processes that protect your data and provide you with peace of mind.

Backup Disaster Recovery (BDR) the new lifeblood of business

Data Backup, ,
With an increasingly mobile workforce on multiple devices, backup disaster recovery for your network is more important than it's ever been to protect your company's data.

With an increasingly mobile workforce on multiple devices, backup disaster recovery for your network is more important than it’s ever been to protect your company’s data.

It wasn’t so long ago that backing up your data involved tape cartridges put in an external drive. You could pretty much leave it alone because the backup might take overnight.

Now companies like Seagate, Western Digital, Toshiba and others make slim external drives that plug into a desktop or laptop computer and can hold one-4TB of data and fit into a pocket of a laptop bag or a woman’s purse. A USB 3.0 connection and, depending on the amount of data, well, let’s just say, the backup is quicker than overnight. Flash drives are another miniature form of saving.

The explosion of mobile devices and other technology has put a much stronger emphasis on not only backing up valuable information, but Backup Disaster Recovery (BDR). Notice the “Disaster” modifier. The work force is becoming more mobile, able to work on laptops, tablets or smartphones while on a train or plane. People can work from home or other remote sites, logging into the business network. This means more data like documents, spreadsheets, and Power Point presentations are saved on more devices and platforms. Even some e-mail communications, contact lists, and text messages may be important. While flash drives and external hard drives are still a good solution for individuals, larger small and big businesses need more far-reaching managed solutions.

Mike Monacello, editor-in-chief of Business Solutions.com notes that their annual reviews of BDR solutions have been the most read material on their site. “Not only is BDR the central service of most MSPs (managed Services Providers), but also the reviews have been loaded with great insights from our tester…Many established and would-be MSPs have told us that they find the product reviews to be valuable resources in evaluating new products or confirming their decision to use the products they do.”

A post on The Talkin’ Cloud blog is geared toward how managed service providers should talk to businesses about the need for a Backup Disaster Recovery plan, but it is certainly educational for businesses seeking a solution.

  • Define Disaster: “…For a business, a disaster is more likely to be something small–like an accidentally deleted file, crippling malware or the always-pervasive hardware failure. When discussing disaster recovery, it’s important to make the distinction between a site-destroying event and the failures that are likely to happen…It’s the small things that bring business to a standstill.”
  • Disaster Recovery vs. Backup: The blogger says the difference between the two is essential for the business to understand. The keywords in disaster recovery are being able to be back online quickly. “…Disaster recovery involves creating redundancies that can reduce or even eliminate downtime…”
  • Downtime: Depending on equipment, downtime could mean different things to different businesses. A company that is down for a couple of days can have catastrophic economic consequences. The goal of a managed service provider — and the goal of a business looking for a managed service provider of BDR solutions — is to be back up in a few hours or less. A small monthly fee prevents the thousands of dollars that can be lost during downtime.
  • Service Delivery: A MSP knows there are different types of services and deliveries. They should be able to recommend the best affordable solution for a specific business. Will it be simple or advanced? Will it involve hardware? The cloud? Will it be remotely off site or on site or both? Businesses can educate themselves, too, so they can have a frank discussion.
  • Showing Continued Value: Businesses should be shown or ask to see how the backup recovery works. Since, most backups are conducted remotely and in the background, this is a good idea, as are regular e-mail reports and occasional visits to the business site.

Contact us to discuss your BDR needs.

8 Valuable Benefits of Virtualization

Manage Service, ,
Virtualization makes better use of your hardware, which results in cost savings.

Virtualization makes better use of your hardware, which results in cost savings.

When companies consider virtualizing, they don’t always see the valuable benefits. It’s easy to get caught up in pessimism when it’s something unknown.

The increase of virtualization, however, gives good reason for companies to be optimistic about the technology. More businesses are using it and finding it to be a positive change. As InfoTech recently noted in a May 19, 2015 article, researchers are seeing a spike in virtualization:

Gartner market researchers report that the number of virtualized servers in data centers has noticeably increased over the last five years. Up to 50 percent of servers had been virtualized in many companies by the end of 2012. This percentage has risen to 70 percent in the last year, especially with the newly delivered systems.

Why are companies stampeding to virtualization? These eight benefits will help you understand why as you consider using the technology for your business.

1. It Makes Better Use of Your Hardware. Instead of purchasing multiple physical units to handle your servers, virtualization dramatically reduces the physical assets needed. In fact, it improves the utilization rates of your hardware from 15 percent to a whopping 80 percent. And that of course leads directly to benefit #2.

2. Cost Savings. It’s not just the better hardware utilization that saves money. As TechRepublic.com notes, the “lack of downtime, easier maintenance, [and] less electricity used” all add up to some serious savings.

3.  Product Testing. Setting up test environments is costly. Product testing requires high overhead. But, as WiseGeek.com notes, virtualization will allow you to “quickly and easily set up and maintain testing environments, and to rapidly restore testing environments to their original state when required.”

4. Better Redeployment. Virtualizing your data center (i.e. continually creating digital backups of all data) means it’s always ready to redeploy at any time, for any reason — and very quickly. The alternative — dealing with a physical server — is more time-consuming and costly. Virtual Strategy Magazine explains it this way: “…if a physical server dies, redeployment can take a lot of time because it is dependent on a vast array of factors that are not always in your control.”

Having digital backups also makes Backup Disaster Recovery (BDR) a walk in the park compared to the grueling alternative.

5. Separated Servers. Without virtualization, it’s usually one server that handles everything. But with virtualization you can dedicate single servers to one function — i.e. one for email, one for database management, one for web. This adds more power and flexibility to each area of your system. According to Webopedia: “…it lets each virtual server run its own operating system and each virtual server can also be independently rebooted of one another.”

6. Less Chance of a Server Room Meltdown. With less physical units in your server room, your chances of a server meltdown reduce. If you think this only happens to small, ill-equipped companies who forget to install a temperature control system, think again. In 2013, Microsoft’s servers overheated and caused a 16-hour shutdown of all Outlook and Hotmail email accounts.

7. More Choice with Vendors. Moving away from physical serves means you’re not forced to use a limited number of vendors. Virtualization makes your system much more compatible with a wide variety of vendors.

8. That Much Closer to Cloud Technology. Virtualization brings your company to the threshold of cloud computing. And, in case you need a refresher on the differences between the two, Business News Daily offers this quick, clean summary:

“…virtualization differs from cloud computing because virtualization is software that manipulates hardware, while cloud computing refers to a service that results from that manipulation…Cloud computing is the delivery of shared computing resources, software or data — as a service and on-demand through the Internet.”

Contact us to learn more about virtualization and how it might benefit your company. If you’re not sure if it is a good fit for your company, contact us for a free consultation to determine if now is a good time for your business to virtualize.

Backup Disaster Recovery (BDR): Must have or Nice to have?

Data Backup, ,
For many industries, regulatory mandates make Backup Disaster Recovery a "must-have" rather than a "nice-to-have."

For many industries, regulatory mandates make Backup Disaster Recovery a “must-have” rather than a “nice-to-have.”

In today’s world of natural and manmade disasters and the increased level of cyber-attacks, informed business owners lean toward the “must have” side of the argument for data backup and choose to protect his or her business’s data. For some businesses; however, regulatory mandates make Backup Disaster Recovery (BDR) a “must do” as part of its required Business Continuity Planning or Business Resumption Planning (BRP). Regardless of whether or not there is in place a mandate for your business to have – and periodically test – its BRP, the BDR process is a major component of that plan. In many cases, ironically, one of the least expensive components of a BRP is data recovery, yet nearly 30% of businesses surveyed in 2014 by Continuity Central reported they did not use a BDR process. Whether your business is large, medium or small, you have to ask yourself one thing, “Would it be easier and quicker to resume business as usual if I could recover my data or start from scratch?” If you don’t want to find out, perhaps you’re a candidate for implementing a BDR process. BDR processes have existed for decades. Gone – or fading rapidly – are the days when a business would use tapes to back up their data and ship them daily to offsite storage. Today, much of data backup resides on external drives, the Cloud and servers located offsite and easily retrieved without a visit to the offsite storage facility. Should the thought of setting up a BDR process bring images of servers, external drives or tedious tasks to mind, rest assured that data backup and recovery have come a long way in simplicity and convenience. SystemsNet can assist you in meeting your Backup Disaster Recovery needs when you contact us for a free consultation.