In today’s business world, data is one of a business’s most important assets. Losing some or all of this data can be extremely costly or even fatal to a business. Thankfully, backup technology has come a long way since old tape drives and other failure-prone strategies. Here are some of the best features and reasons to implement a modern, robust backup system.

  1. Accidental error. One of the most frustrating things that can happen is for a file to suddenly go missing. Was it deleted? Moved? It can be hard to determine, especially if multiple people have been working on the same file. By using a backup strategy that takes regular backups throughout the workday, missing files can be recovered with little worry.
  2. Historical backups. A proper backup system will maintain historical versions of files, so that if a file becomes corrupt or needs to be restored to an earlier version, it’s easy to do so.
  3. Colocation. A modern backup strategy utilized by successful small and large businesses alike is colocation – where data backups are stored both locally and off-site. Local data backups allow for rapid file restoration in cases such as accidental file deletion. These local backups then sync to an off-site, cloud location that enables the business to recover their entire environment in case of disaster. So-called ‘colo’ solutions ensure business continuity and are essential for any business.
  4. Security. Threats such as ransomware, which can corrupt an entire server’s worth of data, are becoming more and more prominent. By maintaining historical backups, a business can overcome a ransomware attack without needing to pay the ransom by simply restoring the valid versions of these files, backed up before the attack.
  5. Automation. Advanced and robust backup solutions run without the need for constant human interaction. Compared to the old tape drives of the past, which required a person to change the tapes frequently and physically store or ship these tapes somewhere secure, today’s backup is much more fool-proof and automated.
  6. Daily testing and reports. Another failure of old backup strategies is that they frequently did not work! A proper modern backup solution will report on any errors encountered during the backup process. It also will virtualize the environment daily, to ensure that it’s possible to recover the environment remotely (in case of disaster).

At Layered Systems, we implement industry-leading backup and recovery solutions to protect small businesses. Your business cannot afford to lose some or all of its data. To learn more about backup and disaster recovery and how to guarantee business continuity, Contact Us today.