‘I keep it all in my head’. Or ‘How likely is it that an event occurs that stops my business from operating?’ These are frequently the reactions of small business owners to the idea they should pay more attention to business continuity and disaster recovery. While business continuity often occupies an increasingly large part of an organisation’s attention as the organisation gets bigger, even one-person companies need to have a workable strategy in place. In particular, IT security and backup are aspects are priority items.
Of all the disasters likely to befall an enterprise, the least dramatic one is often the cause of most damage. And unlike storms, floods and earthquakes, the IT server crash or data loss is typically something companies discover only after it has occurred. IT however is essential to the continued operation of a huge number of companies today. For an SMB, just as for larger corporations, back up starts with the CEO’s notebook and then covers all relevant data repositories and the systems that use them. Local and remote (cloud) backup of company data and configuration files is necessary for complete data security.
The complete definition of an IT backup strategy will depend on the organisation concerned. Some dimensions remain immutable: for example, regular, automatic backups should be part of every company’s strategy, no matter how big or small. SMBs with over 1,000 employees should consider moving the greater part of their basic infrastructure into the cloud in the near to medium future (80 percent over the next three years, for instance). Email and payroll applications are typically suitable candidates to start with. On the other hand, even the smallest of companies can protect themselves from business interruption by simply using one of the reputable online backup solutions available today over the Internet.