You sell a product. You provide a service. You give people what they want. But all of that relies on one crucial thing: your business being operational.

This is how you make money

Sounds simple.

In today’s technologically advanced world: using the analogy ‘keeping up with the Joneses’ has become prevalent than ever before. As we accumulate the information and tools to grow our business, the technological side becomes crucial for survival and success.

So let’s stop to think for a moment ….what would you do if disaster struck, and all your important business information and processes vanished into thin air?

Do you have a disaster backup solution in place to get your services online quickly after disaster strikes?

We all know a disaster can occur from events like fires, cyclones, failed hardware, power outages, a cyber-attack OR even a disgruntled employee who decides to wipe or steal some data … just because.

Recently, a client of ours had, what can be termed as, a “major disaster”. A fire had broken out two doors from their premises. They were forced to evacuate quickly AND had no time to remove their server.

The client called us while the fire was occurring and asked if we could back up their system remotely. Since they use backup tapes that are taken offsite, the situation was out of our control.

The reality is … even though we are aware a disaster can happen, we presume it will happen to someone else. So when disaster strikes, the long term consequences are often more costly than having a disaster backup solution plan in place.

Let’s think about how one hour without access to digital client records, software applications, and automated processes would affect your company. There would be lost sales, plus delays in your delivery and operations schedule.

In monetary terms, it is estimated that when downtime occurs, it costs small businesses an average of $6,900.00 per hour, medium sized businesses $74,000.00 per hour, and large corporations $1,130,000.00 per hour.

That is an extraordinary amount of money to be losing on an hourly basis.

And how long would it take your business to recoup the amount of money you have lost in one hour of downtime?

Suffice to say, there is no doubt that efficient companies save money. And to be an efficient company, you would want the best possible backup solution to protect your business from any kind of disruption – so it’s … safe and secure.

What solution is best?

While traditional onsite storage does remain an option – the advantages of offsite, online storage is quite significant because it is becoming more important to protect your data and the applications which are used daily to operate your business.

For example, email messaging, desktop applications and websites, which are usually not considered “mission-critical” aspects of IT infrastructure, often are important in remote business-critical applications and services. These days, systems are just too intertwined for you to simply backup the stuff you think you will need in order to survive.

At Nortec IT, we recommend the cloud based solution: Storagecraft ShadowProtect Replication Service (SPOR). This provides fast reliable disaster recovery, data protection and system migration to get services online as quickly as possible after a disaster.

It’s a simple process … we install the software on your server and it replicates your system to an external hard drive onto our highly secure infrastructure. You receive a complete system and data backup; scheduled automatic backups; email verification that your back up has been successful AND quick file and folder recovery by Nortec technicians in the event of a disaster.

Had our client who was affected by the fire, used the Nortec SPOR backup system, we could have immediately initiated a replication of their system to our data centre. We could have had their servers restored to Nortec’s Infrastructure within hours and provided them with remote access from anywhere (ie. Library, home, other office, etc).

The reality for this client – it took a few business days to have their data recovered from tape to new server hardware.

So, if you still think ‘a disaster would never happen to my business’: the only advice we can offer is NEVER SAY NEVER.

Now…

You sell a product. You provide a service. You give people what they want. But all of that relies on one crucial thing: your business being operational.

This is how you make money.

Sounds simple.

So now let me ask you: how long would it take to get your business back on track after disaster hits?

For more information on the importance of a disaster backup solution and how it can benefit your business, contact Nortec IT on 02 9894 9514