Ok, so we all know we need to backup our data. But did you know just how crucial it is that your backup is remote? That’s to say, your data is backed up to an off-site location, away from your business premises.

Some people are a little hesitant to back their data up remotely. But if you have a duplicate of all your business critical documents in a secondary location, and your main business premises are broken into, or destroyed through fire, theft or flood, then with an off-site backup you can be sure that your crucial data doesn’t disappear in the process.

Think about it…. if the unthinkable happened, and you turned up to the office tomorrow morning to find your server had gone, your PCs were missing, or even worse the building had burnt to the ground, how easy would it be to keep your business running? You could replace the PCs quickly enough…. find an alternative location or emergency premises… but if you had lost your company data – customer records, personnel files, contracts, databases, records, documents, software, images, folders…..well, it could just about be the end of your business as you know it.

What’s more, remote backup is really easy to put in place. If you choose an online solution from a reputable IT provider, the process should be fully managed meaning you need do nothing other than pay the bill each month. No faffing about with tape backups or having to take external drives home each night. And even parting with your cash is easy. It really isn’t an expensive service at all with some companies charging just a few pounds each month for a substantial amount of storage. And if it safeguards your business, then it’s worth the money. It’s almost like an insurance policy.

A good solution will be encrypted, and the data will be stored in a multi-layered high security location such as a data centre. Many data centres are also backed up (meaning you’re essentially backing up your backup!), so your data is guaranteed to be accessible, and up and running 99.99% of the time.

I really can’t stress the benefits of remote backup enough. Downtime costs money. Even half a day with no email or internet access is enough to get most managers’ and directors’ blood boiling, so think about what it might cost you if you were out of action for days, weeks, or let’s face it, if you’ve lost all your vital data, it could be years!

In fact, the Contingency Planning Research and Strategic Research Corporation states that 43% of companies experiencing a full data loss never re‐open, and 29% close within two years.

Frightening figures.

So when you think about it, remote backup isn’t so much a business benefit, but a necessity……