All businesses need data backup services. With the number of data volume growth and the legal requirements, traditional backup tapes are no longer reliable nor cost-effective to meet the compliance demand level.

Therefore, how do you choose data backup services?

1. Reliability

With the availability of disk to disk technology, data backup has been made easier because the information is stored on disk drives. This has proven to be far reliable compared to traditional tapes. The moment you have backed up your data, you will know that it is secure as well as readily accessible on the disk drive. Also having an uninterruptible power source will improve your reliability, especially if you use a UPS battery.   It is important to find a UPS battery shop who can supply and fit them.  With tapes, you are never sure if the data in tapes are usable not until you try restoring it, at which it would be too late. It is important to know that 71% of restored tapes fail.

2. Breadth of Offering

The service providers vary widely. What does this mean? This generally means that some are designed mainly for consumer and others for business data centres. As such, it is wise to choose a solution that offers features and the level of service you need. Delta-block and De-duplication will improve performance, save money, and reduce data footprint. Therefore, you should try to know if their de-duplication is at the file level or block level. also, ensure the service provider offers backup server solution, including laptops and PCs as well.

3. Security

Research shows that 60% of organisations using tapes do not encrypt their backups. This is mainly because encryption through tapes take too long because it runs slowly. As such, a majority of people simply turn encryption off, which creates a security risk. Even the advanced disk to disk backup, encryption paramount. The best being 256-bit AES. In a nutshell, it is wise to have a solution that will not only encrypt your data during transmission, but during storage as well.

4. Accessibility

It is always wise to have direct access to your backup, without spending a lot of time and cost on physical transport. Restore should only take few minutes and not hours or days. In other words, set yourself to work with your data and not waiting for it, and as such, you should make sure your service provider has a solution that meets your Recovery Point Objectives (RPO) and Recovery Time Objectives (RTO). This is what determines how quickly you can recover the information you need.

5. Cost Effectiveness

A research showed that companies lose an average of £64,000 for lost activity every hour. If you do your calculation, you will find out that going with a disk to disk data backup makes sense. This is because handling cost is close to non; meaning no hurried deliveries, locating, accessing, loading, or repeated steps. Furthermore, do not forget of benefits such as reliability, reputation, and security, which makes a huge difference with just a single failure or breach.

6. Compliance

A majority of companies have a problem satisfying security, privacy, and data retention regulations. Therefore, the question is, how do you identify a tough compliance partner? Well, a good partner would be glad to produce a regulatory tables of requirements, and a list of how their technology, services and products will satisfy you. To get the best, go for service providers known or accredited to store NHS or Government data. They will help you comply with regulatory requirements.

7. Disaster Recovery

Many companies lack a full-proof and tested plan in case of a disaster. You will never know whether your data protection is complete not until you have a tested disaster recovery plan. As such, the solution provider should be in a position to have both a team of professionals and a product mix that will help you prepare for the worse. They should be in a position to help you configure your backup so that you rebound quickly. The best option being; going for a service provider who is in a position to train you on how to deal with disasters, depending on your company’s actual configuration.

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8. Ease Of Use

Some companies cannot or do not manage their backups from one place. It should be simple to manage your backup environment, and the software you use should not contain estimation. This is one way to avoid data loss.

9. Customer Support

It is important to note that product support differs widely when it comes to data backup services. You should not have to wonder if they will be there to help you the moment you need them most.