Do you have a backup strategy for your business? If not, it is time to get one! It is easy to forget about backups until something goes wrong but having an effective backup solution in place can help cushion the blow of data loss and increase your company’s security.

The question is how do you decide which backup solution is best for your business? In this blog post, we will discuss the different solutions available so that you can choose the most appropriate solution for your business needs.

What is a backup solution, and why do you need one?

Backup solutions are intended to ensure that your data and information are safe and secure when disaster strikes. Whether you have a system crash, or someone spills coffee over their laptop, a good, automated backup will enable you to restore your data quickly, minimising any business disruption.

Regular backups of essential documents, databases, customer records, emails, and other vital data are critical in the modern digital workplace. One key question to ask yourself is what should ‘regular’ look like for you. There are businesses who need to back up data in real time, and then there are those who feel comfortable about backing up once a day or once a week. You need to assess the risk and define what is ‘critical’ for your business.

Depending on your approach to ‘risk’ will determine whether you go for manual or automated backups. There are businesses who use external hard drives and swap them over once a week. Unfortunately, this solution relies on people, who may inadvertently be the ‘weak link’ if they go on holiday or fall ill. Automated backups, particularly to the cloud, take away the reliance on ‘people remembering.’

Having a backup is vital but ensuring that it is checked regularly is just as critical. The speed of restoring data in a disaster recovery situation is key to getting any business back up and running quickly. When combatting the unexpected, an effective backup solution will always be worth its weight in gold!

Types of backup solutions

Backup solutions come in various shapes and sizes, each designed to meet the needs of different businesses. Whether you are looking for an onsite solution or a cloud-based approach, there is a backup plan to suit your unique needs. From the cost-effective local storage option to the more comprehensive cloud-based solutions, here are the different backup solutions for your business:

• Cloud Backups: These are online data storage and backup services where data is securely stored offsite in a remote server. Cloud backups are normally fully automated. You can specify the frequency that the backups are taken. They are dependable and secure and are ideal for businesses with multiple sites.
• Local Backups: These are typically solutions where data is stored on a physical device such as an external hard drive or server. This might be an appropriate solution for a business holding sensitive data that does not have access to the internet. However this solution fails in a disaster recovery scenario unless the backup device is regularly taken and stored off-site.
• Hybrid Backups: In this situation, a business uses a combination of both cloud and local backups. What data is stored where typically depends on its importance to the business, its size and sensitivity, and who needs to access it.
• Image Backups: An image backup is more than a file or data backup. An image backup copies everything on your drives including your programs and settings. This type of backup means that you can restore a system more quickly in the event of a system crash or other disaster.