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backup and disaster recovery for business continuity

8 Questions to Ask Your Backup and Disaster Recovery Provider

No one likes to pay for insurance – until you need to file a claim and you realize just how lucky you are to have that insurance in place.  Backup and disaster recovery is a form of insurance for your business that ensures you will be able to recover in the event you lose your critical business data. Data loss is common – and can be caused by simply dropping a laptop, spilling a cup of coffee, or human error. Major natural disasters like storm systems, flooding, or lightening striking your building to cause data loss is far less common, but catastrophic if you are victim to these situations.  Having an effective BDR solution is the key to ensuring your business can continue after data loss. Here are 8 questions to ask your backup and disaster recovery provider to make sure you have the right solution:

 

1.What kind of security do you have in place to protect my data?

When you choose a backup and disaster recovery provider you are trusting them to manage and protect your critical business data. Find out what security measures they’ll take to keep your data safe daily – including firewalls, anti-virus, and response to threats.

 

2. Do you have your own data center?

A cloud provider offering data backup and disaster recovery should take the security of the physical building housing the data center seriously. Does the provider have their own data center or are they renting space in another data center? What security measures are in place if there are hardware or electrical failures? Is the data backed up both locally and in the cloud?

 

3. What percentage of uptime can I expect?

When looking for a new BDR provider, ask what percentage of uptime and downtime their clients are experiencing.

 

4. What is the data transfer rate?

For companies with large amounts of data, you need a provider with faster data transfer rates and the capabilities to handle the data.

 

5. What is included in the price?

Most cloud-based data backup and disaster recovery providers have a subscription pricing model with clients paying a monthly or annual fee for services. Make sure you compare what services are included in the price from one provider to the next to choose the provider offering the most value for the money and providing all of the services your business requires.

 

6. What backup options do you offer?

To ensure business continuity after some sort of disaster – electrical or hardware failures, natural disasters, or flooding for example – you need to make sure your BDR provider has both on-site and cloud-based backup options. If something happens to the data physically stored in the data center, you can access it from the cloud-based storage and operate business-as-usual within moments of data loss.

 

7. How fast can I recover my data?

Not all backup and disaster recovery solutions are created equally – especially when it comes to the speed in which you can access your data back up after data loss. Some providers can get you back up and running within a few hours… some need a few days… and some need weeks. How long can your business generate revenue without access to your data? The speed in which a provider can recover your data matters to your bottom line.

 

8. Do you backup the metadata, not just the files?

Don’t choose a BDR solution that only saves your data, as it will just put it all into an unorganized mess that makes it nearly impossible to find that “one piece of data” you need if you have to retrieve anything from your back up copies. What you want is a solution that also saves the metadata so you can restore data to its original state with minimal headaches. It’s basically like a rewind solution – you can rewind your network and computers right back to the way they were before the data loss event occurred.

 

Don’t wait until you lose data to find out if your backup and disaster recovery solution will work. Cloud-based BDR solutions enhance the ability to recover after data loss, whether it’s caused by a major disaster or a spilled cup of coffee in your keyboard.  Having a comprehensive data backup and disaster recovery solution in place is an insurance policy that ensures your business will still be in business after data loss.

 

NSA provides complete data backup and recovery solutions designed to protect you against data loss. Contact us today to learn more about our BDR solutions.

 

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