Online Storage and Remote Backup
A Backup Article Contributed by M. Larose
Online Storage and Remote Backup
Online remote backup offers advantages to businesses of all types. Many businesses find that their remote locations provide an extra challenge when it comes to protecting critical data. Every location needs to have data protection for the sake of business continuity and productivity. Without this protection a single remote location could cause harm to the company data and the reconstruction of that data.
As your company grows and remote locations are added include every new site in the backup plan. This means revising and monitoring all data and sites and being prepared to make changes as needed.
Online and Remote Backup Difficulty
Many remote locations are managed by a small team of employees often holding down the fort with two and three job descriptions. This is usually doubly so for the IT department. Full time staff is often asked to be responsible for and maintain everything from the backup to troubleshooting printers and applications. In larger IT departments the daily duties are divided up and the person responsible for the backup is generally not dealing with the users application issues.
It is a daunting task to be in charge and manage all of the IT issues. So is it any wonder that there may be data issues when data recovery time arrives? Whether the backup is done online or kept remote there can still be data issues.
Online or Remote Backup - What Works?
Managing and controlling data from a central location seems to work the best. A backup plan that involves the online backup from remote sites to a central repository allows for the data to be managed centrally. When remote locations are small this option seems to work the best because the amount of data is small and easily transmitted online.
Locating the final destination to an online remote backup service for everyone is also an option. If the main office and the remote offices all transmit to an online remote backup service then the data can be assessable to everyone. This may work in cases where shared data is important. It is also an ideal solution when there are remote locations consisting of one employee with a laptop.
Data from a laptop can be easily downloaded to an online remote backup service and the employee can feel good that they are not stressing the data flow or possibly risking loss of data if the laptop is stolen or damaged.
Online Storage and Remote Backup Options
What happens when a company begins to outgrow their online remote backup plan? Growth of data is a hot topic of discussion all over the world. How to control it and how to store it more efficiently is being discussed in boardrooms as you read this. How do you solve this problem in regards to online remote backup?
The expensive answer is increase bandwidth. Some companies can't justify doing so just for online remote backup processes. Usually if there is a growth in data then there has been a growth elsewhere in the daily routine and often this is in the form of communications. Putting the two together, the need for bandwidth for communication and online remote backup can take the sting out of the cost.
