Why Every Business Needs a Remote Back Up

It’s one thing that every small business owner knows they must do, but few actually do so. A remote backup service uses just an internet connection to securely back up files to an offsite location (the cloud), allowing you to easily restore data even in the event of a major catastrophe such as a fire, flood, or theft.

Think these things can’t happen to you? Just ask my client, Bill (not his real name), who has his company's QuickBooks file on his laptop. One day while he was visiting a client, someone broke into his vehicle and stole his laptop. Needless to say, he was devastated. Fortunately, I had an accountants copy from the prior month and he lost just a month's worth of accounting data.

An online backup solution would have prevented all the heartache. Since the backup takes place offsite, the data is easily retrievable in the event of a disaster. The data is stored in a secure environment with round the clock monitoring, and is entirely safe. If Bill had used such a service, he wouldn’t have to invest the 40 hours he estimates it took to restore his QuickBooks file. If you run QuickBooks on the desktop or server, it is absolutely imperative that you have an offsite backup solution. The cost for online backups start at around $5 a month, and is well worth it. Some well known companies are Carbonite, Mosy, and iDrive.