A few years ago people were constantly asking, what is the cloud? How will it help me? Why would I move to the cloud? Etc… Whilst those questions are still valid more and more people are able to answer them to some degree, whether talking about business or personal use.
[easy-tweet tweet=”As more people are relying on the #cloud it is more important than ever that #data is secure and recoverable”]
Still a hot topic and increasingly relevant to businesses across all sectors, over 50 per cent of businesses in the UK are cloud enabled. As more people are relying on the cloud it is more important than ever that data is secure and recoverable.
Many people worry that as they cannot see where their data sits it is not in their hands and therefore at risk. Whilst precautions must always be taken to ensure all data is secure and backed up, hosting data in the cloud means you are much less susceptible to natural disaster and human error.
I recently had a discussion with a start-up business who had not thought about cloud based back up for their data. They were a recruitment agency who had been working hard for 6 months meeting prospective clients and candidates with all data being recorded and saved on a laptop. One evening the laptop was stolen from inside the front door of the owners’ house. This meant that 3 months’ worth of work was lost forever. Obviously devastating for the owners it also taught them a valuable lesson and they would now not be without a cloud based backup solution. Imagine if this had happened 3 years down the line…!
Whilst computer viruses, hackers and malware are well publicised and scare mongering is everywhere, natural disasters and human error are rarely spoken about in the UK. Few of us want to think about these, as there is little we can do to stop them. Human error can be reduced by education and thorough processes but how do you really eliminate the risk of flooding, fire and theft?
Back-up and disaster recovery are hot topics, educate your employees and minimise risk!
Other benefits of cloud computing include, flexibility, meaning improved efficiency and productivity. Team members can work where they want when you want, whether that is on the road, from home or hot desking. It is also easy to ramp up or down your IT capacity as your business grows. Reduced business costs, onsite hardware costs are reduced as applications and data are stored in the cloud. Reduced capital expenditure, budgeting becomes easier as costs are more easily predictable. Team members can collaborate freely on centrally located documents rather than sending documents back and forth as email attachments which can quite often lead to confusion and people working on incorrect documents. Cloud computing gives businesses a competitive advantage as you can move quickly and easily with the ‘times’ and keep up with large enterprise businesses.
As discussed above one of the key advantages is security, even if you were to lose a laptop you can easily access all data that is stored and backed up in the cloud. The price of replacing a laptop is nothing compared to replacing data, this could lead to huge fines, loss of trust and even the breakdown of your business.
[easy-tweet tweet=”Back-up and #disaster recovery are hot topics, so remember to educate your employees and minimise risk” hashtags=”DRaaS”]
Contact Complete I.T. for an un-biased view on the best back-up and disaster recovery solution for your business.