Choosing the Right Backup and Disaster Recovery Service for your Business Needs

Choosing the Right Backup and Disaster Recovery Service for your Business Needs

Backup and disaster recovery planning is essential for ensuring that businesses can still operate after significant disruptions like blackouts, storms or other problems.

Without proper preparation, millions of dollars can be lost and loads of headaches while attempting recovery. Business continuity plans are often drawn up as a precaution, which work as a road map to businesses for responding to different types of issues.

Identifying important assets like corporate data, manufacturing facilities and technology infrastructure is a vital first step. Next is figuring out how these important assets will be protected in the event of downtime.

Importance of Backing up Data Offsite

Businesses should have their data backed up offsite and have access to it anytime for recovery. The perfect way to do this is to have online backup where the business can back their data up each night and store it away from their business location.

Using Online Recovery Services

Online cloud platforms are perfect for providing backup and disaster recovery. There is only a small share of resources needed by the cloud-based disaster recovery service under normal operating conditions to synchronize state from the business location to the cloud. In most cases, the entire amount of resources needed for running the application only needs to be paid for in the event of an actual disaster.

Using automated online services for disaster recovery means that extra resources can be brought online quickly when there is actual detection of a disaster. This reduces recovery time dramatically after a disaster which is fundamental to business continuity.

How to Choose Backup and Recovery Services

When looking for back up and disaster recovery services, its best to look for one that offers solutions that will copy your server environment to the data center, the Cloud or move your phone systems and servers to the Cloud without losing continuity or functionality.

There is no telling when disaster can strike, and being prepared is key. Your business needs will govern which cloud back up and disaster recovery service you go with. If your company has critical applications that need to be available immediately following downtime, a cloud-based disaster recovery service is what is needed.

For more information on the right backup and recovery options for your business, please contact us.

Backup and Disaster Recovery: Essential to the Security of Your Business

Backup and Disaster Recovery: Essential to the Security of Your Business

Every business knows the importance of backup and disaster recovery. But what do they really do to prepare for the event of a possible disaster or shutdown of their business?

Will files be safe from theft and damage in such a situation? How will you protect your customers from compromising their vital information? Here are a few ways you can keep information safe in the event of a disaster:

Have an Emergency Disaster Plan

 This is the most obvious thing that needs to be done and to have in place, to prepare for a possible disaster. But amazingly, it is a detail many SMB businesses leave out. While they may have a general idea as to what they will do in the event of a disaster, they have no specific plan for recovery and backup that will be sufficient to retrieve vital information in the event of a shutdown or disaster.

Consider Cloud Storage for Secure Backups

 One of the best things you can do is to store critical data on a server that can not be infiltrated by hackers or damaged in the physical world. By employing the use of cloud storage devices and drives, your data will be safe, even if the physical building in which your business resides is damaged or destroyed.

Designate Specific People for Certain Recovery Jobs

 By planning ahead for possible problems, and designating specific staff members for specific tasks, you can rest assured that people will know what to do in the event a crisis occurs. Just as people have a plan in place for their homes in the event of a fire or earthquake, there should be a similar plan in place for businesses in the event of such a disaster.

Consider Down Time and Plan Accordingly

 While you do not know how much down time will occur in the event of a shutdown of your business, it is important to consider the amount of manpower and money that will be lost or wasted due to the down time of your business during this critical time. Have a financial reserve in place to accommodate this, in case this occurs.

Get Advice from Experts

 The best way to make sure that you have what you need in place is to solicit the help of security experts who deal with backup and disaster recovery on a regular basis. They can help you put a disaster recovery plan in place, so that you will know your data and your business will be secure, in the event of a disaster.

In the end, what you should do is to assess. Assess the potential for a disaster in your area.

  • Do you live in a hurricane area?
  • Do earthquakes occur often in your location?
  • Are there risks in your specific corner of the world that put your business at risk?

There is risk enough in the world no matter where you are. But it is important to assess your particular risk and then decide what steps you should take to keep your business safe.

For more information on how we can help you achieve this, contact us.

Backup and Disaster Recovery for the Very Small Business is Just as Important as Big Businesses

Backup and Disaster Recovery for the Very Small Business is Just as Important as Big Businesses

Backup and disaster recovery systems were once only available to larger companies that had deeper pockets to pay for it.

In more recent years, however, these services have been made more available to the small business while maintaining reasonable prices and the same security features. But what about the very small business, as in a home office?

Here at 4 Corner IT, we understand the potentials of things going wrong in your home office, no matter that your database is smaller and simpler. We offer superior backup and disaster recovery services in these cases that can assure your information is secure and easily available again when you need it.

Regardless, you might wonder what could potentially go wrong in your home office when you already have an in-house backup system and no company-sized big data.

The Failures of In-House Security

While some commercially available backup systems might be mostly reliable, there’s always a chance they might fail. Even well-known backup tools have had stories of having meltdowns and losing data when it was needed, despite saving data in real time. Home offices that invest in these aren’t aware of how powerful cloud-based systems have become in assuring data is always there when it’s necessary.

As well, the cloud has become affordable for the small business. That’s because what you pay is based on how much data you have. You can pay that price and still expect to have your data backed up in real time as you create it. This way, when a disaster occurs, it’s retrievable in short order so you don’t wait weeks to gain it back. You can’t say that about other backup companies who used to use tape to save business data.

4 Corner IT offers the cloud and its ability to keep your data both safe and quickly accessible when disaster happens. And what kind of disaster could happen to a small, home office? Those who work from home may not stop and ponder the realities.

The Emerging Threat of Natural Disasters on Small Businesses

There isn’t a day that goes by when we don’t hear about a natural disaster occurring somewhere in the United States or abroad. These increasing threats also threaten businesses more than ever. Unfortunately, far too many of those businesses don’t look into well-planned backup and disaster recovery systems.

Those who have their office at home might assume they’re better off having everything consolidated. They don’t stop and realize that when a disaster strikes their home, the home office is also affected.

You can be sure we’ll have everything backed up for you in the event this happens. Our backup systems also include sending your phone systems to the cloud so everything you had that made your office function can be restored to you during the worst of times.

Contact us so we can tell you more about what we offer in backup and disaster recovery. At 4 Corner IT, we have the small business in mind so you can maintain peace of mind within a disaster-plagued world.

Backup and Disaster Recovery: How Storing Data to a Cloud Can Benefit You on a Rainy Day

Backup and Disaster Recovery: How Storing Data to a Cloud Can Benefit You on a Rainy Day
Value Of Network Support

Backup and disaster recovery of your business’s data should be a top priority, no matter how small or large your business is.

Anyone who doesn’t have some kind of backup system for their data in today’s time is playing as much risk as driving without car insurance. Regardless, deciding which method to use in backing up data might be nearly as challenging when so many options exist.

The trend seems to be honing in to one system away from the office that may become standard before the end of the decade. That’s because it’s usually the most reliable in how quickly data is saved and in the data retrieval time.

Cloud-Based Backup as Most Reliable System

Saving business data to a cloud means taking your data to an outside hosted server that manages it for you. It’s a solution that’s much more manageable than the era when all data had to be transferred to tape or disk and then stored in another location for security purposes.

This isn’t to say most decisions behind using cloud-based backup aren’t going to vary depending on assessment of a business’s data recovery objectives. Because of those usually more convenient aspects, it explains why cloud-based systems are predicted to become the main solution to most backup issues in companies.

The Cost and Security Aspects are Becoming Attractive

The affordability of cloud-based systems is likely one reason why they’re becoming so popular. That’s because they usually charge a flat rate for the data storage and only charge you more when you need to use their services to recover lost data. Other outsourced backup systems don’t work that way, so it’s a cost-effective strategy for any upstart business.

Plus, with new advanced encyption methods on cloud systems, you don’t have to worry as much about your data being hacked. Each cloud-based server will allow a particular security setting depending on the requests of that business.

Retrieval During Disasters

Companies that live in disaster-prone areas are particularly starting to turn to cloud systems to ensure data can be recovered.

In locations where hurricanes or earthquakes are increasing, the destruction of a business and loss of data can disrupt any chance of a business getting back on its feet. Clouds are known for backing up data often and running recurring tests to make sure everything will be there when it’s desperately needed.

How long it’ll take to get your data back is also a major selling point. Because cloud-based systems are managed so well, it won’t take months to retrieve your data as you’d find with other outsourced backup plans.

But those are just a few of the advantages of using a cloud for your data storage. If you’re looking for the most cutting edge cloud system, consider 4 Corner IT as your source in finding the right one.

Contact us and we’ll connect you with many of our partnered cloud vendors that provide the most robust backup solutions while saving you considerable money.