What data backup does my small business need?

As a small business leader, you know how important it is to keep your data safe and secure. Data is the lifeblood of your business, and losing it can have devastating consequences. Whether it's due to human error, hardware failure, cyberattack, natural disaster, or any other unforeseen event, data loss can disrupt your operations, damage your reputation, and cost you money. That's why you need a backup and disaster recovery (BDR) plan. A BDR plan is a set of policies and procedures that ensure that your data is backed up regularly and can be restored quickly in the event of a disaster. A BDR plan can help you minimise downtime, reduce data loss, and maintain business continuity.

But not all BDR plans are created equal. Traditional BDR methods, such as tape backups, external hard drives, or on-premise servers, have many limitations and risks. They are expensive, time-consuming, prone to failure, and vulnerable to theft, damage, or corruption. They also require a lot of manual intervention and maintenance.

That's why more and more small businesses are turning to advanced cloud-based BDR solutions. Cloud-based BDR is a modern and innovative way of backing up and restoring your data using the internet and cloud computing. Cloud-based BDR offers many advantages over traditional BDR methods, such as lower costs, higher reliability, faster recovery, and greater security. Advanced BDR even lets you spin up virtual servers in the cloud from your latest backup which allows your staff to get back to work within minutes even if your on-premises server fails.

In this blog, we will explain what advanced cloud-based BDR is, how it works, and why it is essential for your small business.

What is cloud-based BDR?

Cloud-based BDR is a BDR solution that uses the cloud to store and access your data. The cloud allows you to store your data remotely, rather than on your own devices or premises. You can access your data from anywhere, anytime, using any device that has an internet connection.

Cloud-based BDR works by automatically backing up your data to the cloud at regular intervals, or whenever you make changes to your data. You can choose how often and how much data you want to back up, depending on your needs and preferences. You can also choose which cloud service provider you want to use, such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform, or others. We use a system from Acronis which is an industry leader in this technology.

In the event of a disaster, you can easily restore your data from the cloud to your original or alternative devices. You can restore your data in whole or in part, depending on the extent of the damage and the urgency of the situation. You can also restore your data to a different location, such as a new office or a temporary site.

Advanced BDR takes things a step further and introduces the ability to spin up virtual servers in the cloud if your on-premise servers fail. A virtual server is a software-based server that runs on a cloud platform, rather than on a physical machine at your premises. The cloud server essentially picks up where your physical server left off within just a few minutes and will reflect the last backup you made. It might be a few hours out of date but it’s better than being without a server at all while your on-premise one is repaired or replaced which can take days or even longer.

Costs for this redundant system are fairly low, typically just the cost of storing your data in a compressed format, and something called compute points which charges you for processing power while the server is spun up. Typically, you spin up a server briefly once a month to test that everything was working and, if the worst happens, you’d incur compute points if you had to rely on the service in an emergency.

Why is cloud-based BDR essential for small businesses?

Cloud-based BDR is essential for small businesses because it offers many benefits that traditional BDR methods cannot match. Here are some of the main reasons why you should consider cloud based BDR for your small business:

• Lower costs: Cloud-based BDR can save you money in several ways.
  1. First, you don't have to invest in expensive hardware, software, or infrastructure to store and manage your data. You can simply use the cloud services that suit your budget and needs.
  2. Second, you don't have to pay for maintenance, upgrades, or repairs of your backup devices or servers. You can rely on the cloud service provider to take care of these tasks for you.
  3. Third, you don't have to pay for extra space, power, or cooling to accommodate your backup devices or servers. You can free up valuable space and resources for your core business activities. (of course, if you still have an on-premise server we still advocate having a NAS on site to allow for 3-2-1 backup and faster restore in the event of an incident)
• Higher reliability: Cloud-based BDR can ensure that your data is always available and accessible, even in the worst-case scenarios. Cloud service providers use advanced technologies and best practices to protect your data from loss, corruption, or theft. They have multiple backup copies of your data in different locations, so you can always retrieve your data from the nearest or most convenient location. They also have high availability and redundancy, which means that they can keep your data online and operational even if one or more of their servers or facilities fail.
• Faster recovery: Cloud-based BDR can help you recover your data and resume your business operations in a matter of minutes or hours, rather than days or weeks. You can restore your data from the cloud to your original or alternative devices with a few clicks, without having to physically transport or install anything and that’s even before you consider the Advanced cloud-based BDR we mentioned above.
• Greater security: Cloud-based BDR can help you safeguard your data from unauthorised access, tampering, or leakage. Cloud service providers use encryption, authentication, and authorisation to ensure that only you and your authorised users can access your data. They also use a suite of security measures including old favourites like firewalls, and smart anti-malware to prevent and detect any cyberattacks or malicious activities. If you want even more comfort almost every cloud backup provider complies with various industry standards and regulations, such as GDPR, HIPAA, PCI DSS, and others, to ensure that your data is handled and stored securely and legally.

Cloud-based BDR the modern way of backing up and restoring your data using the internet and cloud computing. It offers many advantages over traditional BDR methods, such as lower costs, higher reliability, faster recovery, and greater security. Advanced cloud-based BDR allows you to spin up virtual servers in the cloud if your on-premise servers fail, which can help you maintain your business continuity and productivity.

Cloud-based BDR is essential for small businesses, especially in today's increasingly dangerous cyber landscape. We include it as standard in our all-in-one IT Support for a reason. It’s simply not an optional solution these days.

If you want to learn more about cloud-based BDR, or how to implement it for your small business, contact us today.