Online Backup solutions for small businesses

It is very costly for any business to acquire new customers so smart business don’t lose any of their customers in the first place. Losing data in today’s competitive world is similar to losing customers, yet day after day small businesses make the mistake of not backing up the data. Relative to the cost of information content of data, the machines are cheap. Machines and backup hardware media gets lost, stolen or destroyed many times. Along with the lost, stolen or destroyed hardware, there is loss of precious data. For some businesses the data is their lifeblood and they will have to close shop in case they lose data.
           
There are many backup solutions available to secure the data for business and individuals. Some of these solutions involve physical media like CD’s, magnetic tapes and doing the mundane tasks of taking a backup on regular basis. Since data loss is akin to a fire in house or theft, one does not realize its importance until an event occurs. Hence business owners, even if they have the backup solutions tend to either not use them correctly or often enough to protect their valuable asset “data”.
           
There is a very cost effective and easy solution to this problem. Just use online backup solutions which are available by multiple sources. The online backup solution provider lets one store important data files on a secure server. These servers are themselves are located in safe and secured locations. Once a file is stored, generally the online backup solution provider makes an additional copy of the backup data as well. In case of disaster, one is able to recover the data. There is a monthly service fees for such a facility based on amount of data one wants to backup. The data can be compresses to reduce the storage amount. Online backup does not need one to remember the tasks related to taking a backup on a regular basis or checking if the backup is taken correctly. 
           
Setup for online backup is very easy. The online backup solution provider creates an account and provides the backup software. A key is used to encrypt the data which is stored. The key is very important to make the data secure. If the key is lost or forgotten it is very difficult to retrieve the data back. Hence key is a double edged sword, it provides security but at the same time, if lost, all the backup data cannot be retrieved back by the user. Once the account is established, the most important files are selected for backup and based on a preset schedule these files are continuously backed up without the user ever doing anything. Although online backup adds reoccurring cost to a small business, it can be considered as insurance which one needs for protection.

Written By: Phillip Thow