Data Backup/Disaster Recovery for Small and Medium-Sized Businesses
Small and medium-sized businesses are finding they have an increasing amount of data due to a greater use of digital information in their daily operational practices. And with an increased need to comply with governmental regulations, there is a need to store this valuable information so you can continue to deliver the products and services your customers expect. Unfortunately, when this data is damaged or stolen, those historical and financial records are gone forever which causes a major loss for these companies. This is why data backup and disaster recovery is so critical for small and medium-sized businesses; helping you stay compliant, competitive and safe.
Here are 3 events that cause data loss and how a managed service provider, with the RIGHT data backup and disaster recovery offerings, can save these businesses both time and money.
Security Breaches
According to the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC), ransomware, which is a form of malware that encrypts the personal data on computers and then asks for ransom payments, is becoming a big problem for everyone in 2016. Should smaller and medium-sized businesses have concerns with this? Of course. Hackers don’t discriminate and want this information so they can have access to the customer data that they use and sell for a profit. A managed service provider helps you save your business because they make sure that all of your critical data is backed up automatically to an offsite data facility, to protect you and prevent this from becoming a bigger problem. In this way, you can delete any infected files and restore clean versions from these backups which is the best way to get your data restored quickly.
Natural Disasters
Natural disasters affect businesses of all sizes but these catastrophic events can affect smaller businesses the most. Disasters can happen at any time of the day or night and are likely to occur at the most inconvenient times. These incidents of fire, flood, earthquake and server failure cause lost revenue, a drop in customer goodwill, duplicate processing and extended downtime while you are trying to recover and figure out where you are going from here. A managed service provider already has a disaster recovery plan in place because at their offsite facility, they can restore all of your backed up data in a matter of hours, so you can access this information even if your building is severely flooded. This lets you continue to run your business until you can restore your primary system at that location.
Human Error
Human error is a leading cause of data loss today and it’s agreed that everyone makes mistakes. But when employees fail to follow policies and procedures, are generally careless and aren’t experienced enough to work with certain websites and applications, this can cause some major problems for these businesses. There is also sometimes deliberate sabotage from within the company. A managed service provider gives you that added layer of protection because they remotely provide you with network monitoring, server maintenance, security management and tech support to minimize human error and reduce this data loss. They also continuously monitor for events that are sometimes missed to help ensure your company always stays compliant.
Small and medium-sized businesses today may feel that they won’t likely become a victim of these circumstances due to their size, but in reality, sometimes the exact opposite is true. Hackers often think SMBs have lower defenses in place than those larger organizations and focus on finding ways to access the important information that is vital to the business’ survival and continued operational success. The impact of this data loss or corruption, from hacking, natural disasters and human error is costly and significantly impacts you for a long time into the future. And sometimes you can’t even recover. That’s why a managed service provider with the RIGHT data backup and disaster recovery offerings can save your business today. They have data backup and restoration plans that keeps you compliant, competitive and safe for many years to come.
