Having solutions in place to protect your business data when the worst happens can only help you if those solutions are reliable, flexible, and backed by the right kind of support.
- Make Sure Your Backups Will Be Image-Based. While file-based backups can work just fine, they handle folders and files one at a time and can take forever to both save and restore. If you find yourself needing to restore a large volume of data at once, you’ll be waiting a very, very long time for all of your files to load from your backups. A complete restore could, in fact, take days to complete. Image-based backups, on the other hand, take pictures of entire machines. These snapshots happen so quickly and seamlessly that users won’t even notice backups occurring, and image-based backups can be restored from blazingly fast, taking only seconds to complete.
- Make Sure Your Data Will Be Stored Both Locally And In The Cloud. That way, you can conveniently pull backups from an on-site server for a quick restore when the situation calls for it. The downside to local backups is that if, for example, your office were to flood, you’d lose that local backup. Having backups also stored in the cloud eliminates that downside, and can save you and your business a major headache. Some solutions even let you open and use your backups directly from the cloud without having to first restore them to your local systems.
- Make Sure Your Backups Are Tested For Validity. A good Business Continuity solution examines each backup automatically to ensure everything checks out. Some solutions even send screenshots of your backups to designated team members by email so you can verify at a glance that all is well. You’ll never have to worry that your backups will fail you when you need them most, because you’ll have ongoing confirmation that your solution is working just fine, and ample warning should something go wrong.
- Make Sure Your Solution Can Be Upgraded As Your Business Grows. The last thing you want is to find yourself stuck with an expensive upgrade that requires you to lose all of your backups and start over. Your Business Continuity solution should have the built-in flexibility needed to continue accommodating your businesses needs without costly or disruptive changes needing to be made. The cloud is designed for scalability, which is just one of the reasons it should be a key component of any good Business Continuity solution.