Security

Feature Article:

Is Your Company’s Data Protected Properly?

Does your company have a fire evacuation plan? The answer is most likely yes. Does your company have a Sales and Marketing plan? Again, the answer is most likely yes. Does your computer have a data protection/restoration plan? The answer is most likely no. In fact the majority of small to medium sized businesses have the intention of looking for and implementing a data protection/restoration plan on their never ending to do list, however with the constant pressures of business, it is often pushed aside to make time for more “important” matters. These businesses often do not realize the importance of such plans until they have experienced a catastrophic loss of data.

What is the most valuable asset a company has? If you answered, inventory, a quality product or service, ideal location, good customer service or even customers, you answered wrong! The most valuable asset a company has is data. Think about it, your companies’ computers contain all kinds of important data. If your company were to lose all of the data, how long do you think your company would survive? In an article written by the National Archives and Records Administration, 93% of businesses that experience data loss lasting 10 days or more, will file bankruptcy and/or go out of business within one year. In a survey titled “The Cost of Downtime” 46% of businesses claimed that it would cost them $50,000.00 per hour of downtime due to data loss, and 40% of business owners felt that the first 72 hours were the most crucial. Without a comprehensive data protection/restoration plan in process it could take weeks or even months to recreate lost data, by far surpassing the crucial 72 hour time frame.

The Right Data Protection/Restoration Plan?

Since businesses are impacted more profoundly by data loss, it’s hard to determine which data protection/restoration plan is best for your company. Generally speaking small to medium sized businesses don’t have the resources to spend long periods of time researching the best options. Often settling for saving the data in a separate file on the same hard drive, or not at all. However, when a data protection/restoration plan is attempted, it is generally inadequate.

Tape and tape drive systems tend to be the most popular on the market. While those devices provide “peace of mind” they are unreliable at best. All too often the tape drives are installed into the server; the tapes are inserted into the drive, and never given a second thought. In order for this data protection/restoration plan to be effective, it must be routinely tested. According to the Boston Computing Network, 34% of companies fail to test their tape backups, and of those that do, 77% have found tape back-up failures. Tape drive systems are extremely susceptible to human error and inevitable hardware failure. Tape drives, like many computer components are inevitably going to fail, all drives fail, it may take 2 days, 2 years, or more, there are no guarantees, making the need for a properly executed data protection/restoration plan in progress. Many times the backup tapes are left in the location that the server is in, allowing them to be susceptible to the same conditions that may arise, for example a fire or flood would make all of the tapes unusable, and the chances of an accurate data restoration to be highly unlikely.

Another data protection/restoration solution is to use CD’s and/or DVD’s. While using CD’s and/or DVD’s allows for transportability, and they hold hundreds of times more data than the once popular 3.5” floppy disks, they are only slightly more reliable or cost effective. CD’s and DVD’s again like many computer components offer no lasting guarantee and have limited capacity. They are also easily scratched, stolen, and in Arizona, they are susceptible to damage caused by high heat. Once a CD or DVD is finalized, they are no longer able to be added to, making them a one time use only solution. Of course you can opt for the more expensive CD-RW and DVD-RW versions, however they are more expensive, again offer no lasting guarantee, and are susceptible to all of the same issues a regular CD or DVD has, the only difference is that data can be written to them over and over again. Since CD’s and DVD’s have a very limited capacity, it can take several disks to back up data to, allowing a higher rate of corrupted data.

USB drives, also known as “thumb drives” are increasingly becoming popular. While they have many benefits such as: easy to use, transportability and with the right deal they can be inexpensive. Even with the positive benefits, they are NOT a good method to be used as a data protection/restoration solution. They are a bad idea, because they have a limited disk capacity like a CD or DVD. USB drives are just a portable hard drive, which means that they will eventually fail, as all drives fail. USB drives are also easily lost, stolen, or damaged, due to the size of a “thumb drive” being left in a pocket is common, and many are damaged in a wash cycle. “Thumb drives” are excellent ways to transfer data from one computer to another computer, or to hold information similar to a floppy disk, but much beyond that they just aren’t reliable. A USB drive is also NOT cost effective, for example at newegg.com a 16GB USB drive is $133.00 plus shipping and handling. While 16GB seems like a large amount of space, depending on the size of your business, it really could be inadequate.

How is data lost?

In a recent report written by Arsenal Digital Technologies, there are several reasons that data is lost. The report states that 83% of all critical data is lost due to human error, 64% is lost due to mistakes, and 19% is from sabotage inside a company. Data loss caused by any means can be catastrophic for a company, especially when a proper data protection/restoration plan is not implemented. Tape drives, CD’s and/or DVD’s, and USB drives leave tons of room for human error, since it is left up to a human being to remember to change the tape, finalize the disk, or to simply copy ALL of the information to the disk drive. One of the best ways to eliminate the majority of critical data loss is to remove the human being from the equation.

Identifying the Problem, Implementing the Solution

Identifying the problem to be fixed is simple, the problem is data loss. The need to have an adequate data protection/restoration plan in process is inevitable. The most effective solution to the problem of data loss is to use an Off Site Data Backup Provider. The most important reason why off site data backup is the most effective solution is because ultimately the human being is removed from the equation, thus removing the major contributor to critical data loss. The other main benefit to off site data backup is that your critical data is stored at a separate location from your original version of the same data, therefore removing the possibility of having your back up exposed to the same conditions as your data in an emergency situation.

How do you pick an off site data backup provider? Unfortunately there are not many just listed in the phone book. If you were to perform a Google search on the phrase “data backup”, Google returns a total of 210,000,000, results. Who has time to weed through all of the results and find the most trustworthy company? How do you know which company's are real and which ones are fake? Many companies will give you testimonial after testimonial about how wonderful that company is, how great the service is, or how revolutionary the product is. Each one is signed in a general manner, for example: Susan Thompson, Los Angeles, CA. Leaving you no way to contact Susan and actually see if she is a real person, or truly feels that way. To implement an off site data backup solution requires a great deal of trust on your end, you are entrusting this company with your most valuable asset, your data. You are also entrusting them to be able to restore the data to your computer system when the need arises, in a timely manner. If the company you choose is located in Florida, and your business is located in Arizona, your company could experience a greater amount of downtime, resulting in a larger financial loss, and ultimately affecting your bottom line as a business. It is important to have a data protection/restoration plan in progress for your company. When your company experiences a data loss, if you are not adequately prepared for it, you can attempt to have the data recovered. However, that is a timely and expensive process that offers no guarantees.

A Partner YOU Can Trust and Depend On

Staple Bench Computers is locally owned and operated here in Arizona, and while not high on the Google results, there is a face to put with the name. Jim Conner has been working on computers for over 10 years. While Staple Bench Computers provides numerous computer support benefits, in our opinion off site data backup is by far the most valuable computer solution that we offer our clients. Our off site data backup solutions allow our data server to transfer your data over a secure connection and automatically encrypt your data for additional security and protection, 7 days a week. The whole process is completely automated, thus removing the human element. Since your data is stored encrypted on our servers, your data will not be viewed by anyone else, nor will it ever be sold or shared with another person, agency, or entity. When the need arises for your data to be restored to your computer, in most cases Staple Bench Computers will be able to restore your data to the day before the disaster happened.

Staple Bench Computers understands that time is valuable to any business as well, and that for the most part small to medium sized businesses simply don’t have the time or resources to research for the best solution for their data protection/restoration needs. However, the reality is that your company no matter how large or small does need a trustworthy solution, and truthfully speaking, off site data back up is the most secure and reliable option out there. Remember that 93% of businesses that experience downtime due to data loss will file for bankruptcy and/or go out of business within one year. Also remember that ALL drives will fail, they are after all just machinery, made up of moving parts. Take the time right now to call Staple Bench Computers to discuss your data protection/restoration needs. It will only take a few minutes and could save you hundreds of thousands of dollars in the long run.

In the event that your company has experienced data loss at any level, Staple Bench Computers can make every effort possible to recover that data for you at a reasonable rate. Staple Bench Computers is a managed service provider specializing in computer repair, computer system management, computer maintenance, off site data back up, and a host of other IT needs. Please feel free to contact Staple Bench Computers at (602) 476-8070 today to arrange a time to discuss the needs of your company.