Who is looking after your data? |
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| Technology | |
| Written by Brett Raynes, managing director for Backup Direct | |
| Wednesday, 01 April 2009 | |
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Page 2 of 2 Depending on the nature of your business, if your systems are down for more than five hours, you could be as good as “dead” to potential customers2. With this in mind, would an online system be more convenient for quick file retrieval? Even if you are doing everything right with tapes – conducting regular backups, taking tapes offsite, etc. – you only have a good backup process, not a guaranteed recovery process. If, after quizzing your provider, you still have concerns about the reliability of a tape-based system, you might want to consider the benefits of online backup. Questions to ask an online backup provider: How long have you been in business and who are your current satisfied customers?Any backup provider that is not forthcoming with answers to these questions should be regarded with caution. There are a number of new providers flooding the online backup market with promises of cheap prices but if they haven’t been able to build a base of reputable customers then you should think twice about trusting them with your data. Most respectable online backup providers will be happy to share customer testimonials with you to prove the reliability of their service and they should also be open about the technology they are using. It is often worth asking whether you can trial the service prior to making a purchase as well to ensure that it works for you. It does not make sense to have data backed up for 5-7 years with a business that has only been around for a few years or perhaps has only been offering online backup for a few months. How are you able to offer such competitive prices?The main expense for online backup providers tends to be purchasing data centre space, the storage systems, security and bandwidth. While consumer-grade equipment has tumbled in price, enterprise-class storage remains costly. A business-grade service also needs to have data mirrored into a geographically separate location which doubles the infrastructure costs. Many providers simply do not offer this level of resilience. This makes them suitable for home use but not for business where the data is more valuable and recovery time is critical. Online backup is an industry with low barriers to entry at the low-end, but great barriers at the high-end. Some providers save costs by housing data in the US, which can often be a lot cheaper than Europe which means providers can lower their prices significantly if they buy space further afield. However, Safe Harbour principles dictate that EU customer data must be retained within the EU, so you could be breaching some serious legislation if you opt for an abnormally cheap provider. The main costs involved with online backup are not so much storage and bandwidth, but rather the support staff required to ensure that service works in a business environment. Backing up a Sage database or an Exchange email server requires knowledge as to what and where the relevant data is (to be backed up), but also having the expertise to restore that data in the correct way to have the system back up and running within the required timeframe. What other companies are using the same technology?If your supplier is able to confirm that there are other big name companies using their backup technology, it can be incredibly reassuring. However, SMEs rarely receive the same attention that big corporate clients are used to so it would be worth asking how they manage their customer relationships and what the availability of support is like for all customers. Small businesses beware…As an SMB, your data is often not treated with the same respect as that of big corporate clients. Remote support can be difficult to obtain so if you lose a critical file in the middle of the night, it might take you a couple of days to get it back. The real value of some backup providers can be in the recovery stage. If you need it, ensure you have access to remote support around the clock and that your provider truly understands the value of your Sage / Outlook / ACT! data. In the data backup market, one size does not fit all, so make sure you are entrusting your data to a provider that will value your custom, protect your data like it was their own and be on hand to answer any questions or concerns that you might have.
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