Even if your staff are working from home, they should be accessing your server via VPN and storing all work data there (and/or Onedrive for Office files). You can set aside a portion of your server that only they or an administrator can access. This minimises disruption if a device is damaged or lost or an employee is on holiday or is unwell. But what about the server itself? How much is your data worth?

Data loss risks

We have already spoken about data security in our previous blogs, but there are other dangers to not having all of your IT data backed up off-site. Although hardware failure is rare these days, thanks to improving technology, flooding is becoming more and more commonplace, fires can happen, and of course, you could potentially lose your data through attacks such as Ransomware. Any of these would be disastrous for your business without adequate backup. With many of us still working from home, the risk of flood damage is even greater as you are less likely to be there to rescue your hardware.

Cloud to Cloud Office 365 backup might be enough if you have a smaller business and only use MS Office or browser-based software. However, you will require a more comprehensive backup solution if your business is medium-sized or have data in various software packages on a server.

The solution

We recommend using a “hands-free” backup system that automatically replicates all of your data (not just Office 365) off-site regularly. Having an off-site backup could save your business! If your office is flooded tomorrow, you might have to relocate temporarily, but at least your IT can be back up and running in a day or two. Your insurance will cover the physical damage, but no insurance in the world can wave a wand to restore your data if your server or on-site backup was the only place it was stored.-

The cost of not acting

Even miro businesses struggle to carry on working without their IT data. Medium-sized businesses are brought to a stand-still, struggling to even keep in contact with employees, let alone carry out work for customers. If you are lucky, you might have some hard-copy information that has survived, but you cannot run a business without your electronic data. Even if you do eventually manage to get the business back up and running – you will be out of action for a long time while still having to pay wages, VAT bills and all those other overheads. Most businesses that have a catastrophic data loss go out of business altogether.

If you want to protect your business from data loss, call us on 01506 533 799 or email us at enquiries@central-ns.co.uk