To backup your company data in the "Cloud" with an online backup provider or to backup to only a local hard drive? That is what many small business owners are asking themselves these days.
For a small business with inadequate (or no) Disaster Recovery Plan, online backup can be a huge step in the right direction from a data protection standpoint. A company's data is considered one of the most valuable assets a business possesses, and should be protected in the event of a total disaster such as a fire, flood, earthquake, or theft. Therefore, having an offsite backup is very prudent. However, business owners should consider some of the security concerns associated with putting your data on someone else's computers.
Acccording to Kevin Beaver, information security consultant with Principle Logic LLC, "How do you know your backups are going to be secure? It's more than just 'we encrypt' and 'you'll have a login,'" said Beaver. "Online backup environments are just like any other Web application. There are literally tons of security flaws that can be exploited to put your backups at risk. Don't fall for the common 'we're SAS 70 certified' response. Ask for an independent penetration test/security assessment of Web-based environment and ensure the vendor's assessing for new security flaws on a regular basis."
Security expert Jon Toigo, CEO of Toigo Partners International echoed this sentiment. "A lot of cloud vendors will tell you everything you want to hear in order to get your business, but it would take a lot of time and energy for you to go and investigate whether they can deliver what they are saying they can. Interview other customers and make sure there are ironclad security policies in place before choosing a vendor."
If you personally don't have the time to weed out the "Cloud" hype from reality, then consult with your computer services consultant or contact Avisotek.
Also, data backup should only be one component of a full Disaster Recovery Plan. If your server or computer that stores all your company data has a complete meltdown, how quickly do you need to have that computer up and running? Two hours? One day? 72 hours?
How quickly data can be restored from a Cloud backup provider depends on your Internet bandwidth and how much data needs to be recovered. Your can easily recover one Word document in 10 minutes or less. However, recovering 200 GBs of data or thousands of files is another matter. It could take days or even a week. You will need to know what the data transfer rate is in order to calculate how long it will take to fully recover ALL of your data in the event of a complete disaster. If it is going to take too long, then you will need to explore other alternatives.
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In addition, in choosing a cloud data backup provider, the reputation, sustainability and history of the provider should be some of the factors to consider. Cloud backup provider can also have its own pros and cons. Like a public cloud, this type of provider is more cost-effective, and has high level of efficiency, which can add to its capacity when needed. Although, these kinds of cloud also share the information with other users that can possibly be a competitor. So choosing whether to backup your data in clouds or local can have a tremendous effect in business.
ReplyDeleteWell, each company has their own preferences to consider before deciding on which strategy to choose. Case in point is whether to have an online or local drive back up. One thing’s for sure, a company should first explore the advantages and disadvantages of both. And afterwards, they should consider which choice would better suit the company’s operational needs, as well as their financial capacity to avail the service.
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