You can’t avoid reading about the extreme weather conditions. Flooding in Queensland, Australia’s Sunshine Coast, record snow storms in North America and searing heat driving wild fires, all point to global climate change. If your business is in the path of severe weather, would your applications and critical data be protected? This begs the question, have you seen your backup lately? In other words, do you have a Backup and Disaster Recovery Plan?
Having a local onsite backup isn’t enough when a disaster strikes. You may not be able to access your facilities due to travel restrictions and your local backup of critical application data may be lost forever. It is imperative that your business has an offsite backup or online backup of your data to aid in a disaster recovery scenario. Here are some considerations for business continuity planning.
Cloud Backup/Remote Backup for Backup and Disaster Recovery
Cloud Backup/Remote Backup provide small businesses with enterprise class infrastructure as an affordable option for backup and disaster recovery. High Speed Internet connectivity, data de-duplication technologies and cloud-based Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) make Cloud Backup/Remote Backup a safe, secure option for backup and disaster recovery planning.
Cloud Based Software as a Service (SaaS)/Hosted Applications
Cloud based Software as a Service (SaaS)/Hosted Applications provide an offsite alternative to premise based applications. SaaS applications store data in the cloud and are accessible across the Internet from multiple devices including, Desktop and Laptop computers, tablet computers, smart phones and other mobile devices. After a disaster you will be able to access your SaaS applications, even when you can’t access your office facility.
Virtualization for Redundancy and Failover as Part of your Backup and Disaster Recovery Plan
Virtualization allows you to create an instance of your business on a shared hardware platform. Virtualization will provide your business an affordable option to maintain a redundant image of applications and their data stored in the cloud and is fully available without a need for data recovery. This method can provide the ability to bring your entire business back online and recovery quickly from a any natural disaster including those from climate changes.
Match your risks of data loss from a natural disaster with the disaster recovery method appropriate for your business needs. Your industry regulations, compliance and security requirements should be considered in all cases. Contact your IT Support Professional for consultation on cloud, security and the compliance needs of your business.
