Tag Archives: Cloud Backup

Protecting Your Data Using Cloud Backup

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As shown by recent wild weather, one never knows when a natural disaster – or for that matter, a man-made one – might strike. How can you prepare your business to stay running and have access to data in case of such an event? Read on to learn more about using cloud backup to safeguard critical data.

 

Importance of Data Backup

 

Backing up your data is obviously necessary, but where to put it? Keep it on premises and risk having it inaccessible if a disaster disrupts your business? What if your business is closed for weeks or even months? One rule, the 3-2-1 rule, advises having copies of your data in multiple locations. Loss of critical data can result in interruptions to business operations, loss of trust of customers and other stakeholders, and even penalties for failing to comply with data protection regulations. What if one of the locations for data backup and storage is the cloud, with your data managed by a cloud service provider?

 

Benefits of Cloud Backup to Protect Data

 

Simply put, cloud backup is making copies of your data to store in the cloud, with the cloud provider supervising its security and integrity. Your business will have access to data in case of a minor or even major disaster, whether a power outage of a couple hours or a longer disruption. Your IT team can send copies of your data to the CSP for storage and backup, allowing workers to access it anywhere. With the CSP furnishing the infrastructure, as well as providing monitoring and reporting services, data remains safe from loss or compromise. Data storage and backup are scalable according to demand, with no need for multiple software licenses. Security and compliance are also enabled, with encryption in transit and at rest.

 

Test Your Network’s Readiness for Cloud Backup

 

Even with its benefits, cloud backup needs careful consideration. First, can your network handle the added demand from cloud backup? Assessing your network’s strength by running a Network Assessment to stress your network in a controlled environment; this will determine your backup window. Second, will the backup schedule for database and file management mesh well with network performance? Network monitoring can spot any irregularities that might interfere with your data’s accessibility when you need it most. 

 

Prioritize Security and Compliance

 

When working with a prospective cloud service provider, ensuring their commitment to securely storing your data to protect it from loss or compromise is crucial. Do they have end-to-end encryption to ensure all your data stays secure and private? Do they follow the data compliance regulations that your company must follow? As for your own network, are there any holes that need patching, and is your protection against malware current? All are questions to consider when adopting cloud backup.

 

Cloud backup has the potential to keep data safe and accessible. For further assistance, contact your trusted technology advisor today. 

Can A Business Continuity Plan Save Your Reputation?

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Reputation Management is a hot topic in the boardroom these days. Having a solid business continuity plan could make or break your company’s ability to survive a data breach or other systems failure that could tarnish your hard-earned reputation. Company news about data loss, systems downtime and other unplanned interruptions occur with regularity. According to technology research firm Gartner, a business that has a catastrophic data event has a two-year survival rate of just 6%. Surprisingly, your company can avoid these scenarios by having a solid BC/DR Plan. It is no surprise that recent research by MarketsandMarkets forecasts the spend on DR as a Service (DRaaS) to grow from $1.68 Billion in 2017 in revenue to $11.11 Billion by 2020. Read on to find out how a Business Continuity Plan could save your business.

Understand Your Business Continuity Risk and Exposure

A great place to start with Business Continuity planning is a review of your company policies and procedures. Your business continuity policies should — in addition to identifying the technical standards for managing your company’s applications, data, and related infrastructure — should identify acceptable risk, what your employees will do in a disaster recovery scenario, and identify any compliance requirements. It is important to understand what information is most important and to consider the risks of suffering a data loss. What would be the impact to your revenue, productivity and reputation? If you could not access your information, or it was subject to data breach, how may that impact your customers’ trust and your business’s reputation?

An Ounce of Planning is Worth a Pound of Cure

Ensure you have a solid data protection plan. Ask yourself; how often is your data backed up, how fast could you recover if needed, who are the stakeholders and how would you communicate with them if you suffered a data loss? Another consideration is your Recovery Time Objective (RTO). Your RTO is how long it will take to restore your data. The size of your data and backup methodologies can impact how long recovery may take. Your network may also be a factor in how quickly you can get up and running. Network bottlenecks can turn a routine restore into a never-ending project. Make sure your network is robust enough to meet your Recovery Time Objectives. Also, remember to train your employees on how to avoid malware and phishing schemes. Last but not least, test your backups regularly to ensure data integrity.


Proactive Communications and Rapid Recovery are Critical

If you find yourself in a situation where your data has been compromised, most experts agree you should respond quickly and proactively. As of last count, the United States had 48 state data breach notification laws to comply with. Many countries around the world have various data protection breach notification laws as well. The EU is in the process of implementing The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which establishes data protection guidelines for its citizens’ information.

Having a Business Continuity plan could save your business. Being able to rapidly respond in a disaster recovery scenario is a critical element of survival. Not only will it help you get back up and running quickly, you will avoid unnecessary fines and protect your company’s reputation. If you feel your business would benefit from a risk assessment, contact your technology advisor today.

Is Your Network Ready for Cloud Backup?

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Cloud BackupRansomware, Privacy Breach, Compliance requirements and Business Continuity make the case to protect your company’s data. Cloud backup and Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaas) require reliable network access to ensure your IT assets are backed up and available for rapid recovery. Today’s networks also support a range of applications including Hosted Email, SaaS, VDI, VoIP and Call Center Solutions. Your network needs to be in top shape to accommodate these demands. Here are some tips to determine if your network is ready for Cloud Backup.

Assess Your Network for Cloud Backup Readiness

When adding Cloud Backup, it is important to understand possible points of failure on your network before they happen. Consider starting with a Network Assessment to stress your network in a controlled environment, in order to determine your backup window. Database and file information on a regular backup schedule may impact your network performance if not properly optimized. Make sure your initial backup and incremental backups run smoothly by simulating peak loads for voice and data on your network. In addition, test your backup and recovery scenarios to identify weaknesses in a controlled environment. Proactive network monitoring can identify potential packet loss and latency that can impact connection speed and uptime. This testing is critical to avoid failed backup and recovery.  

Proactively Monitor Your Network for Security and Compliance

In addition to network usage, Malware and other unauthorized network access can slow your network performance and disrupt your backup and recovery. Your backup may fail when you need it most. Worse, remediating malware during a recovery scenario may delay your ability to bring critical systems back online when restoring from a Cloud-Based Backup. Making sure your network is secure and in compliance may avoid unnecessary downtime.

Cost Effective Network Performance

Technological innovation consistently drives down costs to make systems more efficient. Software Defined (SD) solutions for Wide Area Network and Storage create affordable options to provide secure and reliable Network and Cloud Backup solutions. Software Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN) provides centralized management and policy-based enforcement, making it faster to deploy and easier to manage networks across multiple remote sites. This helps ensure all your locations are ready for Cloud Backup.
Your network is the backbone of your systems infrastructure. If you are unsure if your Network is ready for Cloud Backup, contact your technology advisor today to find out more.

Considering the Cloud For Backup

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Considering the Cloud for Backup?

Many small to medium business (SMB) owners are turning to online backup or remote backup, generally referred to as cloud backup, as a top way to take advantage of cloud computing. According to a recent survey by the Computer Technology Industry Association (CompTIA), most companies turn to the cloud to cut costs and reduce capital expense. Because of the advancements in internet bandwidth, combined with the economies of scale from the cloud, remote backup can be a reliable, affordable and practical solution for most SMBs.

When you evaluate cloud backup, here are a some things to consider:

Security and Compliance

There are public cloud and private cloud options available to meet your security and compliance requirements. If you need to comply with PCI, HIPPA or other regulatory requirements you may need to rely on a private cloud solution. This means your data is physically separated from other companies storing their data in public cloud alternatives. If you require a private cloud solution expect to pay more.

Cost

This leads to us to the topic of cost of cloud backup. There are a wide range of affordable options for cloud backup. Most cloud backup solutions charge by the amount of data stored. This makes them easy to compare. Office documents and spreadsheets are easy to compress and take up less space, as compared to, images, photos and data bases. Depending on the amount of data you are backing up in the cloud, you may incur additional charges for bandwidth. You may also need to consider the costs of a network upgrade and additional internet connectivity, if you are expecting to backup large amounts of data.

Service Level Agreement

Make sure you or your IT professional review the service level agreement (SLA) for your backup vendor closely. Some cloud backup vendors will guarantee uptime and availability and refund any fees at a multiple, if they lose your data. Other backup vendors do not warranty in the event of a data loss. Expect to pay more for a solid SLA with your cloud backup.

Performance

The reason you backup your data is for recovery. Rapid recovery depends on the size of your data, proximity to the backup data store and bandwidth. File recovery or file sharing may not be as big an issue as a disaster recovery scenario. Some cloud backup solutions offer to ship an image of your entire system to rapidly restore your data, so you don’t need to recover across the internet. This may seem like it will take longer, but this may be as fast or faster than trying to recover large amounts of data across the internet. Premium services may provide complete business continuity services including dedicated hardware in the cloud to get you up and running even quicker.

Cloud backup is a great way to take advantage of the cloud. Depending on your business needs and budgets, there is a right solution for you. Contact your IT service provider to find out how you can leverage the cloud in your business.