| As an entrepreneur, I've made a conscious decision | | | | great deal of time is lost in locating the appropriate |
| to distinguish between smart business and good | | | | recovery disks or tapes, transporting them back to |
| business. Running a smart business means accepting | | | | where you need them, mounting the tapes on your |
| that my time is finite and my expertise doesn't cover | | | | system, locating the files you need, and restoring the |
| everything, so it's false economy to try to handle all | | | | data. But by using an online backup service you can |
| aspects of my business in-house. Dedicating my time | | | | restore information immediately with a click of your |
| and energy to my core functions--serving my clients | | | | mouse. |
| and building my business--is smarter than allowing | | | | You need to ask yourself: How much money do we |
| myself to get bogged down with the myriad of | | | | lose per hour of down-time? And how does |
| other tasks. And I know I'm more successful when I | | | | prolonged down-time affect our reputation? For |
| focus my efforts, rather than trying to be a | | | | many businesses, every minute of down-time results |
| Jack-of-all-trades. | | | | in lost revenue, lost productivity, and irreparable |
| In other words, running a smart business means | | | | damage to customer and investor relations. |
| doing what I do best, and handing off the rest to | | | | Cut Your Costs |
| reputable providers who specialize in "the | | | | By outsourcing your company's data backup |
| rest"--including human resources administration, | | | | functions, you eliminate all hardware expenses (capital |
| information technology, lead generation, and so on. | | | | and maintenance) as well as all personnel expenses |
| So, what non-core functions are keeping you from | | | | (time spent on training, cleaning and rotating tapes, |
| running your business the smart way? I'm willing to | | | | testing backup media and recovery processes, and |
| bet that the necessary evil of data backup is one of | | | | so on) related to maintaining your own backups. |
| them. Since 9/11, the outsourcing of offsite data | | | | Online backup providers charge monthly storage fees |
| backup to third party providers has gained significant | | | | that depend entirely on the quantity of your data |
| traction. More and more businesses are recognizing | | | | (measured in gigabytes) and the type of data you're |
| that getting their data backed up and stored by | | | | storing. Look for a service that stores static data |
| experts greatly improves the reliability and security of | | | | (which doesn't change) at a lower rate per gigabyte |
| their critical data protection, while at the same time | | | | than dynamic data (which changes regularly). |
| reducing the time and money they spend on manual | | | | Ever Needed a Time Machine? |
| data storage. | | | | The ability to store multiple snapshots of your data is |
| Here are just a few of the many smart reasons to | | | | another smart reason to outsource your data |
| outsource your company's data backup functions. | | | | storage. This feature is particularly useful if you need |
| Save Time and Avoid Errors with Automatic Daily | | | | to retrieve files that were lost weeks (or even |
| Backups | | | | months) ago, or if your industry's regulations require |
| Thanks to new technology, online data backup and | | | | you to archive data for extended periods. The best |
| recovery services fully automate the storage | | | | online backup services provide this feature at no |
| process, backing-up your critical data 365 days a year | | | | additional cost. |
| to secure offsite servers. By removing the human | | | | Use the Internet to Protect Your Backups from Local |
| element from the backup process, the risk of manual | | | | Disasters |
| errors (and negligence) is eliminated. And the best | | | | Online backup services store your critical data at |
| part is that you (or your already | | | | secure remote data centres. This is a critical part of |
| stretched-to-the-limit IT personnel) don't need to | | | | the service, since any physical backups that you |
| press a single key to protect your company's most | | | | store at your site are vulnerable to viruses, theft, |
| valuable asset--your data. | | | | vandalism, power surges and dips, and anything |
| Eliminate Dependence on Unreliable Backup Media | | | | Mother Nature can throw at you, including fire, floods, |
| Traditional backup media become unreadable over | | | | hurricanes, and tornadoes. |
| time, corrupting your data just as VCR tapes chew | | | | Of course, you must evaluate the cost of |
| up your home movies. Being able to recover lost files | | | | outsourcing your company's data backup and storage. |
| is the obvious point of data backup, and outsourcing | | | | But the harsh underbelly of opportunity cost (in this |
| the process to a reputable online data backup and | | | | case, unrecoverable data) almost always tips the |
| recovery service ensures that your backups are | | | | scales in favour of these new online backup |
| accessible when you need them most. | | | | technologies. And the ability to bounce back quickly |
| Limit Down-time to Save Money and Your Reputation | | | | from a frightening critical data loss is smart business |
| When disaster strikes and you need to retrieve your | | | | at its best. |
| backups, traditional methods are slow and costly. A | | | | |