Businesses of different sizes face different IT challenges and requirements, but no matter the size of your business it’s imperative that you protect your data, if you want to protect the business itself. Whether you’re looking for IT support for a medical clinic, a bank, a boutique agency, or some other small to midsize business (SMB) or organization, one of the best ways to protect your data, protect your client’s data, and ensure that downtime doesn’t permanently take your business down is to implement a business continuity plan. If you don’t have the IT budget or staff to take this on yourself — we get it, many don’t. However, this means many SMBs (75%, in fact) are often left unnecessarily unprotected from the staggering effects of IT downtime.
If you are a small to midsize business owner with a constrained IT budget or staff, one of the best, most cost-effective data protection strategies you can start implementing today is a hybrid cloud data backup system.
What is a Hybrid Cloud Storage Solution?
Hybrid cloud storage uses both local and off-site resources (the Cloud) to manage and protect your data. Using both local and cloud backups provides the best of both worlds: local backups for quick restores, plus replicated data backups on the Cloud in case anything should happen to the local device.
4 Benefits of a Hybrid Cloud Backup System
1. Additional Security & Peace of Mind
Hybrid cloud solutions mean your company’s essential data is backed up locally and replicated off-site. In most cases, there will be three distinct copies of each file — on the workstation or server, on your local device, and in the public Cloud. Encrypted files are also stored off-site, which means if an unforeseen event occurs — like a natural disaster or some other type of downtime, your data will still be accessible. In the end, this “data insurance” provides critical peace of mind (and client trust, if you’re handling client data as well as your own) that your most important asset — your data — is safe and can be recovered.
2. Storage Flexibility
With hybrid cloud storage, you have more flexibility on how to store your data. Rather than struggle with limited local storage options (running out of available space on local storage devices, purchasing more local storage, or making difficult decisions about what to delete or keep on file), you can retain less data locally and send the rest to the Cloud. This gives you the chance to decide how long to store local backups, but it also means you still have the ability to restore non-local files from the Cloud when necessary.
3. Cost-Effective Pricing
Hybrid cloud backup solutions are cost effective! With the help of a backup and recovery service company like Integracon, your business’s only costs are a local backup device and monthly fees that cover the cost of leveraging the Cloud (as well as any other IT services in your service-level agreement). Look for a hybrid cloud solutions provider that offers fixed cloud pricing and managed IT services that grow with you.
4. Virtualization
When companies experience downtime (natural or technical), they lose money — how much depends on how long downtime lasts or how quickly your IT team and system can resume normal business functions. In these downtime scenarios, virtual machines (VMs) — or copies of workstations or servers running on a server in the Cloud — can be the difference between downtime and uptime. If downtime or some local phenomena occurs, your VM is not vulnerable, which means every aspect of the duplicated machine can be run from the virtual machine that lives in the Cloud, ultimately helping you and your company avoid downtime and maintain business continuity.
IT Cloud Services with Integracon
These 4 benefits of a hybrid cloud data recovery system prove that hybrid cloud solutions are one of best IT strategies for a SMB. It’s a simple, cost-effective solution that quickly provides assurance (and “data insurance”) that your data and your client’s data is safe and securely accessible — no matter what.
If you’re ready to learn the best way to backup your data and protect your company’s information and data, contact Integracon — recently named one of Knoxville’s best IT companies! We’ll work with you to create an IT plan that works with your budget, makes the most sense for your organization, and grows with you. Bonus: ask us about our free network assessment!
