You can lose critical information in so many ways: a virus or scam, a failed hard drive, or a laptop left on the train. We make sure your data is backed up, kept safe and separate, and can actually be recovered.
“The most valuable commodity I know of is information.”
Gordon Gekko, Wall Street
The single most important thing
There is no doubt in my mind that the single most important thing you can do to save your business from disaster is to make sure your important documents are backed up, and that the backup copies are kept current, safe and separate from the originals.
If the documents, photographs or emails that matter to you are only held in one place, you may lose the lot when that place fails. And hard drives do fail, surprisingly often. I have lost count of the people who have said “if only I had known” when it was already too late.
What we look after
Backup set-up
Backups designed around what you cannot afford to lose, on the right schedule.
Daily health checks
Backups checked every day, so a failed job is spotted the next morning, not months later.
Cloud data included
Email and files in Microsoft 365 and other cloud services are covered by your plan too.
Offsite copies
A copy kept away from the office, so a fire, flood or break-in does not take everything.
File and folder recovery
Deleted or overwritten files brought back from backup.
Disaster recovery planning
A written plan for getting the business working again, and a test to prove it works.
A simple rule for backups
A widely used rule of thumb is to keep three copies of your data, on two different types of storage, with one copy away from the office. It is simple, and it protects you from most of the ways data gets lost.
Files synced to the cloud are useful, but syncing is not the same as backing up. If a file is deleted or encrypted by ransomware, the damage syncs too. A proper backup keeps older versions you can go back to.
A backup only counts if it has been tested
No backup strategy can be considered reliable until it has been tested properly. Every small business that signs up with us for an IT support contract gets disaster recovery planning as a matter of course, and we make sure it works by running a full recovery test.
How we build your recovery plan
- Find what matters Which systems and files the business cannot work without, and how long you could manage without them.
- Set up the backups The right copies, in the right places, on the right schedule.
- Write the plan Who does what, in what order, if something goes wrong.
- Test it for real A full recovery test, so you know the plan works before you need it.
- Keep checking Daily backup checks, and a fresh test whenever your systems change.
Who this is for
- Businesses that have never tested a restore
- Offices with data on one server or one PC
- Teams relying on OneDrive or SharePoint alone
- Anyone who is not sure where their backups are
What we need from you
- A named contact who can make decisions
- A list of the data you cannot work without
- Time for a recovery test once a year
- Word from you when systems change
Questions we are often asked
How often should we back up?
As often as you could stand to lose work. For most offices that means at least daily, with more frequent copies for the busiest data.
Is OneDrive or Dropbox a backup?
Not on its own. It syncs files, so deletions and ransomware sync too. A separate backup with older versions protects you.
How long does it take to get data back?
A single file is usually quick. A whole system takes longer, which is exactly why we test it, so you know the answer before you need it.
Where are our backups kept?
We agree that with you. The usual answer is one copy on site for speed, and one copy away from the office for safety.
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