They always say teach by example. I find that the IT Profession is one of those professions where business examples are not necessarily followed personally by associates. The biggest example of this would be safeguarding personal data. You all know who you are!
Safeguarding Your Data
We all preach of the importance of backing up data in the workplace, but I find that many IT Professionals don’t actually safeguard their own data at home. Sure there are some that backup to a thumb drive or a spare hard drive, but the problem is that those devices are usually kept in the same location as the data they are trying to protect. We all know that this is not the safest place to keep a backup. We always seem to use the excuse that nothing will ever happen. The problem is that it does happen.
Flashing Red Lights
Earlier this year, during the evening my family noticed some red lights blinking through the front windows of our house. As it turned out the house across the street was on fire. This was the exact same style of house as our own. While the structure of the house survived, everything inside was damaged by either smoke or water. No one was home at the time except for the family’s dog which did not survive. Everyone else was safe. However, any important data that was kept in this house at the time did not make it through undamaged.
Backup as a Service (BaaS) being offered in the consumer market would have had the data backed up and safe offsite. It would have been good protection from this type of disaster. Products like Crashplan, Carbonite, & Backblaze are good products for home use.
How important is your Company’s data?
BaaS should definitely be considered as part of a backup solution for your business. One should also not confuse a BaaS solution with simple online storage services like Dropbox, Google Drive, or OneDrive. These solutions require some type of manual intervention by either manually copying data, or some type of scripting tool to copy the data. Usually this type of data is not encrypted during transit or at rest. Also, this type of data backup is usually on a file by file basis and recovery from a specific point in time can be difficult if at all possible.
BaaS on the other hand monitors Desktops, Servers, and VMs for any changes in data. It then copies only the information that has changed off premise and up to the Cloud. This data could be stored in either a Private or Public Cloud, or both. Also, unlike most Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) options, BaaS will let you recover specific files, including ‘Bare Metal’ copies of the Operating System back to the source machine in case of disaster. Files destroyed/encrypted from Ransomware or accidental file deletion can also be recovered fairly easily.
Data Safe and Sound
For me personally, I know that all my family’s personal data is safe. Old photos, videos, and other important electronically stored documents are safe in case of any disaster. If I drop my laptop and it shatters into thousands of pieces, my data is safe. If for some reason my drive gets encrypted by Ransomware, my data is safe. That should be the same feeling for your business. You should know that if anything unexpected happens, your business’s data is safe and secure.
Need information, or some advice with DRaaS or BaaS? With more than 40 years of service, CCSI has provided clients a rock solid foundation on which to secure their organization’s future. CCSI leverages technology to inspire innovation, promote growth, drive efficiency, and accelerate our clients’ success. Contact us today!
Disaster Recovery (DR) is more important today than ever before. Why? Because data is more important than ever before – and organizations are collecting more of it than ever before. Companies are increasingly relying on data as the lifeblood of their business. If the data or systems they use to access and process that data go down, so does the business. Download this whitepaper today to learn about how to protect your business data.
Author Bio: Steven Rainess is a Solutions Architect for CCSI. He has 25 plus years experience in the IT industry. For most of these years he has been a consultant as a Subject Matter Expert in Systems, and Networking area, as well as, some Project Management and Development work. His work has covered many verticals including Financial, Education, Broadcasting, and Software Development.
