What Enterprises Want In Backup and Disaster Recovery

This Industry Viewpoint was authored by Jim Kennedy, Founder and CEO of the Network Support Company

Disaster recovery is not a new topic, but, as a service provider, ensuring that your clients have the right process and plan is more important than ever. With the very real possibilities of cyber security breaches and unexpected natural disasters affecting most businesses regardless of location, size or product, data backup and recovery is a global issue. It’s up to service providers to give clients and prospects alike the product that suits their needs.

While specific needs are up for discussion, there are some non-negotiables that enterprises want from their service providers. Here are the top four:

1. Backup Location

Onsite backups are great for convenience and speed, but offsite backups add an additional line of security. So, why not offer both?

Business owners will have a tough time deciding between on or offsite backups, especially if they have had to deal with recovery before. Because each option has pros and cons, you can provide balance – and perhaps help hasten a decision – by offering both. For example, many service providers offer onsite backups at a higher frequency (hourly) and offsite backups at a slower rate, such as every day or week.

2. Backup Frequency

Speaking of backup frequency, no business wants to lose a day’s worth of work, much less a week or more. Blackouts and server failures are unnecessary sources of stress, but frequent backups can preemptively combat such occurrences.

Whether creating backups onsite, offsite, or both, service providers must ensure that they are backing up data on a regular basis. Many businesses will require backups multiple times per week if not multiple times each day. It’s important to have a high standard and adjust accordingly as your client needs.

3. Restoration Timeline

Data backup is an insurance against disaster. When disaster strikes, the recovery plan is launched, and time is of the essence. How quickly a business can get back into action can make a difference of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of dollars.

This is where service providers can have the most significant impact for clients. How quickly will it take you to get your clients back on their feet? Many service providers guarantee minimal downtime, ranging anywhere from a few hours to a full business day. It is crucial to know your system’s capabilities and restoration timeline when put to the test. As always, under-promise and over-deliver. Failure to prove true on a guarantee will almost surely result in a contract termination.

4. Backup Type

Historically, data has been backed up on hard devices, such as tapes, discs, or drives, but technological advances have opened up the door to tapeless backup solutions. Tapes are still in use by many companies, but there are better alternatives.

Cloud technology has provided a desired solution for backup capabilities. This tapeless system saves time, energy and money for all parties, because there’s no need to change tapes daily or weekly. Additionally, there’s no need to purchase, label, catalog, archive or store the tapes, either onsite or remotely. Cloud backups vastly simplifies the process by making backups fast, easy to find, and accessible from anywhere.

That said, tapeless backup does need to be done correctly and with multiple lines of defense. Duplicate backups can ensure that recovery is always available, even when multiple unforeseen circumstances arise.

In our age of technology and connectivity, it’s more important than ever to be able to access information at all times, even when servers fail or unpredicted disaster strikes. As a service provider, follow these four tips to guide how you operate in order to ensure peace of mind for all parties.

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Categories: Disaster Recovery · Industry Viewpoint