Cloud backup

Id be interested to know how many businesses out there use cloud storage, and don’t have backup? Most of the clients I speak to assume their data is backed up, as its in the cloud. It’s a question I get asked regularly, so I thought id share my opinion on whether you should or shouldn’t have backup. Read on if you are interested in the protection of your data!

Firstly, we need to aware the services like dropbox/onedrive/googledrive are file sharing and collaboration platforms. These systems make your life easier by sharing content inside, and outside of your organisation and in most cases helps you curb the server server sprawl, or ditch them all together.

Most of these service feature a recycle bin, or deleted file recovery, but its generally limited to around 30 days. They also offer version control, if you damage a file you can easily revert to a previous version. The shortfall is the recovery from accidental deletion, beyond 30 days. I restore files for a lot of my clients, and I would say that most of the recoveries are for files that were discovered missing far greater than 30 days ago and in this case, your on your own. This extends to not just files, but emails.  Exchange has a 30 day recycle bin recovery, but once that’s past it’s too late to get the email back.

Now there are other features such as retention policies, which can force retention on files and emails, but its not really backup as the retention could be easily switched off and the data lost. That’s why an external backup system that is designed specifically for backup is recommenced, and in some cases may be part of your industry or regulatory compliance.

The solution is simple, and cost effective. Kontech recommends SkyKick backup for Office365. It will automatically backup your data, and allow yourself or your IT guru to easily login and search, and recover data. If you haven’t considered backup and it sounds like its something you want or need, get in touch for a quote. Its far cheaper than you would expect!