Small Business Tools Pro

In the modern era of business where just about everything is done on a computer or mobile device of some description it goes without saying that a reliable backup strategy or contingency is vital and should NOT at any cost be avoided.

I’ve heard of many occasions when businesses, even experienced one’s, get caught out after a server or laptop crash and parted company with customer information, invoicing data and archives setting them backup months and costing them thousands in lost revenue (when you lose your customer information how do you approach them for outstanding bills?)

70% of businesses that suffer major data loss go out of business within 18 months Source: DTI

As with many things in small business, the internet offers a life line to small business owners and provides plenty of options to choose from. We’ll start by examining the 2 primary models which can be adopted by small business.

(NOTE: for bigger businesses you want to explore professional backup solutions, eg. Net Backup or Veritas)

• Offline: Buy an external USB drive to backup to regularly. Think about buying a second one to backup the first up (when it’s your data on the line nothing is too much). You can use native Windows backup software or purchase third party software
• Online: Sign up to an online back service that allows you to backup your data to remote servers (highly recommended)

Most online backup solutions providers will offer you 2 or 3 GB of free space to store any files so you can test drive at no cost. Although 2GB pales in comparison with current hard drive capacity this is not to be scoffed at. 2GB worth of spreadsheets, invoices and presentations will probably run a large percentage of small businesses if we’re honest.

If you’re on a budget and want to make use of the freebies then think about prioritising which data is of most importance to your business.

Think of the worst case scenario, “if my laptop was stolen, what data would I need access to, to ensure my business could still function smoothly?”

IDrive is one of a few online solutions that will ensure losing data is one less thing to worry about in your business.

Here are some of the features that IDrive can offer:

• automatic selection – easily, quickly choose what to backup
• Continuous Data Protection – recognizes which files are modified and automatically backs them up
• mapped drives – backup drives mapped to external devices
• IDrive explorer – allows you to “view” the remote files and make use of “drag and drop” restores
• retrieve data from any location – log into your account from any browser and restore data locally
• web based backup management – manage the backup sets, schedule and view logs from any browser

Take it from someone who’s worked in the IT industry for the last 12 years – that’s the sort of flexibility you’re looking for in a backup solution. While the offline solution will work I think you’ll find it’s more rudimentary and certainly less flexible.

If you looking for some comparisons on the market then its worth looking at mozy and carbonite who both offer similar solutions although perhaps without as many features.

Unfortunately statistics reveal one of the last thing business owners think about is backup solutions, when in fact it should be one of the first considerations.

“Of all the forms of wisdom, hindsight is by general consent the least merciful, the most unforgiving” – John Fletcher

Have you suffered data loss as a result of overlooking backups? What backup solutions do you use?