With the advancement in technology, data has turned out to be one of the most fundamental assets of a business. This is especially true with small enterprises that rely on data for everything. The driving factor is due to low personnel management whereby less than two people control the business; making all the critical decisions. Owners of small businesses are similar to retail owners who pay little attention to the importance of reliable data backup. They take several risks with the assumptions that technology will continue with its efficiency without extra efforts.
This means that if your business solely depends on data for survival, you will suffer a lot. Once your data gets lost or stolen, you are most likely going to lose your business. The main reason why people fail to have a good data backup strategy is due to costs or just ignorance of the fact that this could happen to them.
Why the need for data backup on businesses
Both the small and gigantic businesses require a plan to back up their data. While many people store data in the cloud, this is not enough for you. A company should have as many options as possible, meaning you should have a copy of your sensitive data in an external hard drive. As someone who values their business, you should remember that any employee can access your business hence giving them a leeway to siphon data from your computer.
Additionally, computers may burn down to the ground in case of accidents leading to data loss. If you had zero back-ups, that might be the end of your brand. Nevertheless, if you are looking for modern data backup strategies for your small business, check them out below.
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Cloud Backup
In the recent past, there has been a fuss about cloud backup. Luckily, this article is here to give thumbs up about it. Cloud backup and storage are very efficient as compared to conventional methods. Several database backup services make this process very simple by doing away with errors such as forgetting to back up crucial files during backup. This method of data backup is very cheap. This is because you are not obliged to buy expensive hardware for backup, or an entire team of computer experts to do the job. Additionally, you can also access the data from any part of the world, as long as you have a source of internet and your password.
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Disaster-Protected Storage
The worst mistake for any entrepreneur is making an assumption that cloud storage is enough for them. As much as you have the cloud account, you should remember to make copies of your data in other destinations in digital storage systems. Moreover, this type of data is faced with many problems such as cybercrimes, phishing, and malware, thus the more need to protect it. In addition to this, the hardware could also get destroyed in certain calamities leading to loss of data.
This brings us to the only solution to all your problems- investing in disaster-protected storage! It merely means that your data is well secured through waterproof and fireproof safes and devices.
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Directly-attached storage (DAS)
DAS are devices that are directly connected to the computer. Examples of familiar DAS are external hard drives and pen drives. For a small business, they should get in touch with this method as it helps in the backup of large amounts of data in a very short while. The technique is easy to use since a user is only required to attach the drives via USB ports to the computer and give commands on the transfer of files to the external drive.
The process is also cheap as you don’t have to employ people for this; neither are the drives expensive. However, it will turn out to be tedious if you have to store or backup files from different computers. You are required to walk from one station to the next. Nevertheless, the efforts are worth it for the sake of your business.
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3-2-1 Approach
The simplified meaning of 3-2-1 is that as a business owner, you should possess at least three copies of your data. For clarity, two copies should be stored onsite but in different accounts. As for the third copy, you should have it offsite. This kind of backup strategy maintains that even in instances when you lose some copies of data, you can still run the business with the remaining copy.
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Network-Attached Storage (NAS)
NAS is a device connected to the network directly. When one compares this to the DAS method, NAS turns out to be the easiest of all. The main reason is that you can access your data from the computer as long as you get connected to the network. This method of storage and backup should be implemented by small businesses as it is cost-effective due to the centralized storage. Moreover, if one of the online copies gets technical problems, you will still access the other copy online.
Conclusion
Business is a risk, and so is everything else. Since data is the backbone to your business, you should do everything possible to ensure that it is secure at all times. Cost should never be a hindrance as to the reasons why you lack a backup strategy. For the sake of your data’s safety, you should consider having more than two back-up methods to eliminate on doubt. Remember to handle the issue on space as you will need more on each passing day due to additional data.
