In the modern business environment, data is currency. As a result, any disaster, data breach, or data loss could send an organization into a tail-spin without recovery in sight. Whether a hacker puts ransomware on your network or an employee accidentally deletes a database, it’s crucial to have a backup and disaster recovery strategy in place. Yet, with the daily rigors of a highly competitive global marketplace, this can be both difficult and costly to do. Since many businesses face growing pains, with limited resources at their disposal, it makes sense that most turn to IT managed services.

To earn customer trust and loyalty, your business must maintain high customer engagement. Yet, if something impacts your critical data, it could irreversibly impact your client retention, revenue, productivity, and in some cases, your entire business. So then, your company must be prepared for the potential of an unforeseen data-loss event and incorporate IT managed services to deploy a reliable disaster recovery strategy.

How does disaster recovery work?

Disaster recovery means you have a plan to restore lost data and quickly bring your work environment back to standard operations by using saved backups. The backups may include everything from sensitive data to a software image of your full network. When a backup is robust, you can recover even data lost in an unexpected ransomware attack.

In the past, companies handled their own backups, keeping archived files on a local server for when they are needed. But times, technology, and best practices have changed significantly since then. For a truly secure backup and recovery plan that will be there for you come hell or high water, outsourcing and cloud storage are by far your best option. Let’s take a look at four dominating reasons why businesses across the globe are choosing to outsource their backup recovery management rather than tying up internal IT resources or storing backups locally.

In decades past, many businesses managed their own backups with error-prone and time-consuming tape backups. But, technology has changed since then as have industry-related regulations and consumer expectations. A truly reliable backup and recovery plan requires the assistance of IT managed services to ensure you can consistently run business as usual and meet your customer’s needs.

In essence, backups seem rather simple. You could keep one copy of your most important files in case anything happens. Unfortunately, in the era of big data, it takes more than one tape to store all your files. Further, selecting the right files and compressing them securely requires expertise that can be found with an IT managed services team.

If you store the wrong files, or corrupt the compression process, you only increase your data loss risk. Not to mention, it is crucial to ensure backups are executed at regular intervals and saved securely. These are the types of actions best taken by an experienced IT managed services team. Moreover, in the event of a disaster, you want a team of professionals who can carefully extract your data when needed.

Local backups aren’t secure enough

Where you store your backups matters a great deal if you expect them to be available after a data or system-wide disaster. Storing your backups locally is not your best option primarily because if a disaster does occur that wipes out your entire local system, the backups go as well. This is why even before the cloud, many businesses stored their backup disks in bank vaults and then in remote data centers.

Where you store your data is just as important as how you store your data. If a disaster wipes out your local system, where else would you go to recover your data? As you can see, it makes sense to work with an IT managed services team to store your data in multiple locations and/or offer off-site storage. Even in the worst case scenario, you have the means to access your backup files.

Backup recovery also takes time, and it requires skills that many core IT departments do not have. Imagine tasking your IT department with securely saving huge databases and network infrastructures on a regular basis – they wouldn’t have time to focus on any of their strategic tasks. Also, the files must be verified and recovery-drills must be executed in a simulated environment just as you would have fire drills to ensure everything is kosher if a disaster took place. You wouldn’t want to backup your files once and hope you can recover them quickly without practice.

It is vital to have an IT managed services team by your side so that your in-house IT team can focus on their daily duties such as maintaining company laptops, managing internal issues, and creating new apps for your business. An IT managed services team, on the other hand, is prepared to manage backups and recovery – they won’t have to split their focus. They will take the required steps tailored to integrate with your company’s business continuity plan.

It makes sense to embrace the real value of IT managed services

If you decide to partner with an IT managed services team, here is what you can expect:

● Reduction in disaster recovery costs. Building a disaster recovery site, purchasing the hardware and software – on top of hiring IT specialists – can add up rather quickly. In contrast, an IT managed services team offers a cost-effective pricing model where you only pay for the services you use. They will also have a comprehensive strategy for protecting your data from security risks and threats.

● Quick recovery. By working with an IT managed services team, you can manage your disaster recovery processes from anywhere. You can also access your backup files from anywhere. When you have the luxury of quick recovery, then you know there won’t be any disruption to your business operations.

● Scale as your business expands. An IT managed services team can ensure your disaster recovery plan meets your evolving business needs.

● User friendly. Your backup and recovery processes can be viewed from a centralized perspective. It is easy and convenient. When you’re not worried about downtime, you can then spend more time focusing on meeting your customer’s needs.

● Achieve compliance. Working with the right IT managed services team means you have a solution that will adhere to regulatory requirements even during a disaster.

Final thought

There isn’t any reason to compromise your IT department’s productivity when you hire an IT managed services team. Let our team at SSI manage your backup and recovery so that your in-house team can work on your everyday needs. For more information on secure backup recovery solutions, contact us today.