If you say yes to both of these you really should get something sorted about your backup:

  • Do you have it on memory stick or external hard disk?
  • Do you backup once a month? Or even better once a week?
  • Have you ever missed a day backing up?

What happens if the office burns down or your memory stick gets damaged?
Having all of your data backed up off-site, away from your main business premises is an option more and more firms are turning to these days. It means that in a worst case scenario – such as a damaged hard disk, or even a fire – none of your files will be destroyed, meaning you will not lose important information regarding your business, projects or clients.
All of this data can be stored at space provided in data-centres through websites such as Backblaze, where your files can be easily and securely accessed from wherever you may be situated. This, in turn, opens up options for employees to work from home where possible, and makes it easier to coordinate efforts on projects when staff may be scattered across several different locations.
At a time when more and more people are looking to reduce outgoings and expenses, remote storage is an extremely cost-effective measure that can be implemented. Data-centres charge only a nominal fee (approximately €50 p/a) to supply a safe storage account and back-up system.
You must have multiple copies of everything!
Let us know what you do with your backups

Imagine if you had a stack of dirty dishes to clean, and a top of the range dishwasher to clean them in; you wouldn’t put one plate in at a time, switch on a full cycle and wait until it was finished to put the next one in. You would load the machine, fitting as much in as it can safely take, and turn the dial to the economy cycle. That way, you have all the dishes cleaned as quickly and efficiently as possible.
With more and more businesses becoming increasingly cost-aware, IT is rapidly following suit. Virtualisation technology cuts down on costs incurred purchasing, running and maintaining the machines needed for each of the functions your IT system needs to provide.
Simply put, virtualisation means that a single physical machine can be split to simultaneously operate several ‘virtual’ machines, or servers. (Rather than having one machine to wash one dish at a time, you have one machine that can clean them all at the same time). Each of these servers operates independently of the others. This provides a greater utilisation of existing hardware as it means physical machines are performing closer to their capacity, and it also brings greater flexibility between the servers too as none of them are reliant on another one to continue working. This is possible because each ‘virtual’ server has its own ‘virtual’ hardware installed, thereby also creating an ideal platform to format a particular operating system for whatever the particular requirements of the business in question may be.
As the number of necessary physical servers is reduced, there are several benefits immediately apparent:
– energy costs are reduced
– necessary hardware for your IT system is cut down upon
– space requirements for the machinery required is dramatically reduced
– should something go wrong with the technology, system downtime is also reduced as each server can continue running even if there is an issue with another one