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“One of the biggest problems with backup is that customers need to determine which data is more critical to their business than other data,” observed Don Chouinard, director of marketing at backup vendor Dantz Development Corp. “The key to defining a credible backup and recovery strategy is to first determine the value of the data and then how much time can be lost without impact on the organization.”



Chouinard points to two issues that owners must settle up front. In the IT trade, these variables are called Recovery Point Objective, or the age of the data you will be able to restore your records to after a disaster strikes; and Recovery Time Objective, or the time that will be needed to resume your business activity after a problem.



Of course, each company will have a different answer to these questions. For some small businesses, the order-entry database and server will hold the critical data. However, for some small businesses, their e-mail messages may hold critical data about customers and orders.



In any case, only the owner of a small business can determine how much data loss is acceptable (after all, that’s the hard-core version of the question) and how long the total recovery process will take. Data that’s backed up more frequently will reduce the amount of lost data and may allow users to resume business faster. At the same time, more backups will require more diligence and entail higher costs.



Prior to searching on line for a solution you must sit down and think of your needs. Simply looking for a cost effective of even free product to manage your off site backup may put you at greater risk. Here are some questions you need to ask yourself:

 What is your most critical data? 

Have a look at your business and what is important to you. Emails, spreadsheets, flyers, pricing, receipts, invoices. Take note of everything that could have an adverse affect on your business. Have a look at what is important for you to survive and what isn’t.


 

How frequently does it change? 

How often do you work on those important information change. As a small business you will be constantly working on the same document. How often do they change?


 

How attentitive can you be to your data?

 
If your always busy and don’t have time to manage your data, you need to take note of this and look for a managed or automated system.



Answering these three questions will give you a greater understanding when looking at your current small business backup system. Once you have started you can begin searching for the system that is ideal. We have listed some key questions that can help with your looking.

Does your small businesses critical data reside in one location?

For Business continuity it is highly recommended that your data be stored offsite in a secure location.

Does your data change frequently?

If the changes to your data are high, it is recommended that a daily backup be completed, preferably with a retention policy of a minimum of 2 weeks. This means that if there are changes that you weren’t aware of you can access up two weeks of changes.

How quickly can I recover my data, especially in the case of emergency?

Will it take a few hours, a few days, or a few weeks? This question is critical as the whole reason you are backing up your data is in order to be able to retrieve it.



The point of this argument is not that you are doing it wrong its more a question of whether your businesses backup strategy is correct and in the event of an incident will it be okay? Simply answering the questions above should assist you a level of understanding that will allow you to make an informed decision for your backup choices.



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7 Questions to ask your online backup service

 What is Online Backup?

Online backup is basically a method of offsite data storage whereby your businesses documents, files, folders, systems, databases, server operating systems, emails or the even the entire contents of a hard drive are regularly backed up on a remote server or computer with a network connection. Online backup service providers offer this offsite backup, which is absolutely necessary for disaster recovery in case files become lost or damaged.

To see what can and cannot be backed up online, CubeTech’s full features can be found here: http://www.cubetech.com.au/features/

 Why is Online Backup Necessary?

The reason for acquiring online backup is simple. By backing up data continuously (or as frequently as needed) on a remote server, the risk of your businesses data loss as a result of file corruption, fire, theft, or other natural disasters is practically eliminated. You can safely access or restore any lost files by using any server with high-speed Internet connection and a Web browser interface. Privacy and security are assured with encryption and password protection.

CubeTech houses servers across Australia  which feature hourly replication.  What this means is that if one server is offline there are others that are available for your businesses online backup is safe.

 How Long Will the Online Backup Take?

High-speed Internet connections will obviously speed up the time it takes to back up your files and folders. Its all dependent on how much data you want to backup and the speed of your connection.  Needless to say CubeTech’s invested a considerable amount of capital to make sure the connection is not bottlenecked from their side. This means your upload speed will be maxed out before CubeTech’s.

Initial backups can take from hours to days depending on the volume and size of the data that is required to back up. That’s why many people opt to conduct this during off-peak hours or even weekends. To overcome this problem, we can send you a USB hard drive and the first backup can be completed this will cut down the first backup immediately.

Time taken for subsequent and routine backups will be much shorter once the first backup is complete as only the changes or new documents will need to be copied and stored. This is called incremental backups and CubeTech has this enabled for all backups. To learn more about CubeTech’s incremental service click here.

 How Secure Will My Businesses Data be?

Many online backup companies offer different forms of encryption and security. As this is probably one of the most prominent questions we get asked we think its probably best to go into a bit of detail about the encryption process. At CubeTech we take your businesses’s data confidentiality and integrity seriously. Because of this we have built our encryption around this; To start with our encryption is 256bit encrypted meaning it is of the same standard as world banks and the military. It is transferred over secure channels and stored on servers that have extremely limited access. When stored, it is stored encrypted. CubeTech employers cant even understand what the information is. During the setup process you select the key that will be used for encrypting the data. If you lose this key, we wont be able to recover the data. Thats how seriously we take your confidentiality and integrity of your data.

 Can I backup files while my server is completing operational tasks?

Yes you can safely backup up open files and programs while they are running. At CubeTech we tailor your schedule around your work tasks to make sure there is no performance degradation around the backup process. At CubeTech we work closely with the Customer to make sure their backup sets work perfectly for them.

 Is it possible to restore data to a different server than the one that was backed up?

Absolutely, the application just needs to be installed onto the server you want and you can recover what ever you like. Alternatively you can access the website and recover directly from the server.