A green and white logo for the certified information privacy professional.Backup of critical files and sensitive information is essential to survival for small and large businesses. If disaster happens, do you have your information backed up so that you can recover in a timely fashion? If you don’t, you are putting your business and all of your hard work at risk when the solutions are affordable.

Unless you are a large enough corporation to employee an IT staff and auditors that can manage your information and protect the privacy of clients and employees, chances are you are going to need to outsource and backup your information online. There are many benefits to backing up information online that your business can’t afford to overlook. Below are 8 reasons businesses should make online and offsite backup a priority.

  1. Secure and automatic offsite electronic vaulting. There are numerous advantages to having important information and documents stored offsite, especially if your business operates in multiple geographic locations. Having offsite electronic vaulting gives you more security when it comes to local disasters.
  2. Reliable and complex data protection. Data protection is a much more complex process then simply having two locations for a file. Depending on your business model and the regulations of your industry, there can be thousands of factors that come into play when backing up data which can be very time-consuming. Outsourcing data protection with a reliable company can reduce a lot of the stress and work load as well as reduce the need of hiring a specialized IT tech.
  3. A simpler data control process. With multiple locations, having offsite and online data storage is an easy way to instantly transfer data from one site to another. Also, with dedicated 24/7 professionals managing your sensitive information, you won’t need to have professionals on staff
  4. which means focusing your budget and staff on what is really important.
  5. A thorough data protection plan. There are several steps when it comes to data protection and each one of them is essential to ensure that your data is effectively protected in case of any emergency. Not only do you need to backup on another device, you need that device to be offsite
  6. and also easily accessible immediately when a disaster hits. Also, once you have it on the other device you need to have it protected, encrypted, and organized in a way that is easy to find information on the fly. Finally, you need a reliable solution for recovery.
  7. Enhanced security for all sensitive data. There are many legal regulations when it comes to privacy for customers and employees, but even outside of protecting your business under the law is the very real effect on the bottom line if your valuable business strategies and research are discovered by hackers or competitors. Even outside of intentional sabotage and legal concerns, there is the concern of human error.
  8. Immediate data restoration. Compared to traditional methods and physical backup, online recovery is an immediate process that can reduce the hours or even days that traditional recovery takes. However, immediate recovery is only useful if there is also immediate storage solutions that will ensure the maximum amount of data that can be lost is measured in minutes. When it comes to the bottom line, time is money and even a day’s worth of work lost can mean huge losses of profit and productivity.7) Increased ability to comply with legal regulations. Outsourcing with offsite and online storage is a great way to reduce the responsibility of your organization and employees when it comes to compliance. Learning and staying consistent with all regulations can be a huge undertaking and does not always make sense for every business when it comes to productivity and focusing on value added activities.
  9. Becoming free from routine backup and restoration tasks. Traditional backup and even online backup can be tedious and time consuming. If you are reading this then your core business probably isn’t information storage and there is no point in reinventing the wheel. With a responsible outsourcing solution, it is easy to standardize information management across several locations.

While it is important to find a solution for backing up sensitive information for recovery and disaster protection, it should not be a rushed decision. Finding the right company can be a challenging task, but nevertheless should be investigated thoroughly. Make sure that you ask the right questions and find a package that is appropriate for your business’s unique storage and bandwidth needs.