On the Internet, you can find the results of a survey that reveals that as many as 45% of respondents experienced data loss at least once, and 14% have never again managed to recover lost business information.

If you never found yourself in the situation that backup of your work was the only helping hand, you can consider yourself very happy. However, this happiness shouldn’t be taken lightly. If something hasn’t happened to us so far does not undoubtedly mean that it will never happen in the future.

Instantaneous loss of information can cause serious business problems.

Availability of data is important for business continuity. In addition to the data storage, ability to recover the unfortunate loss in the appropriate period of time is also important. In any case, you will have to take some of your business hours and stop what you are normally doing in order to perform necessary recovery actions. If it takes to long it can cause significant losses for the company and it can also harm its reputation.

Although a backup, as we’ve known it, seems as rather tedious process it doesn’t make sense to wait for the worst to happen just to find out how important it really is.

In the era of information hyper-production, digital data have become one of the integral parts of our lives. Despite the fact there are various options for storing data such as hard drives, pen drives, memory cards and other external devices, the concern that someone can unintentionally download or maliciously erase our valuable information is still widely present. Maybe more than ever before.

In case you are storing data to some external memory, we can say you are doing just one part of an important task. Why is it not enough?

Certain risks endure.  All these devices can still be destroyed by some random natural disaster.

Keeping backup files in Cloud ensures that you have stored your data on an independent location resistant to happenings in your office.

In fact, different polls reveal that as many as 45% of respondents experienced loss of data at least once while 14% never managed to recover lost business information. According to FEMA, more than 40 percent of small enterprises never restarted their business after major natural disaster and data loss.

Everyone who ever used the benefits of timely backup can testify on its usefulness when it comes to saving time, work and not to mention nerves. I am also among them.

All my data is stored in Cloud. Everything I use daily and keep on my computer is automatically synchronized with the Cloud. All of other important documents which I do not need every day is also safely placed there.

Recently, I have experienced some problem with my mobile phone and decided to reset it to the initial settings. I transferred the contents of the phone to my computer in order to check and decide what data I will carry back to the phone.

One video of a long and rather senseless name was a proper test for my backup routine. Opening this file has caused all the icons on my computer to become white. Virus!

In order not to jeopardize the data on the server, I disconnected from the network but almost everything that existed on my local drive was missing, i.e. it was encrypted. After reinstalling the operating system, it was enough just to install Outlook, which then “pulled out” all mail from Exchange, and everything else that I use was saved on One Drive. By dragging the icons from the Cloud back to the desktop I had fully operating environment in a short period of time. Everything was as if nothing had happened. All of this in only 30 minutes. Pretty impressive, isn’t it?

This is one of the most important advantages of Cloud backup. It does not require additional time since everything we are doing is automatically and continuously sent to the Cloud whenever we are connected to the Internet. The files that are stored are encrypted before sending and remain so when they arrive at their destination. The only decryption key is in the possession of the owner.

Another benefit, which I mentioned before but want to emphasize once again, is simplicity. With just a few clicks stored files can easily be found and recovered. This means that they are available to us at any time, wherever we are and whichever device we are using provided we are connected to the Internet.

Why this kind of backup is also important?

Firstly, from the financial side this is a very convenient solution. Small businesses usually do not have unlimited IT budgets. It is therefore important they can use solutions that make sense, are in line with their needs and aren’t costly. The process of storing and recovering data uses the capacity of the existing infrastructure so no additional equipment is required.

As more and more employees create and store corporate data on laptops, tablets and smartphones, Cloud based data protection and storage solutions enable that everything is placed in one central data warehouse. In case any of the devices are lost or stolen, using a geo-location service, companies can find devices and remotely wipe data if necessary.

Cloud as a solution for storing, recovering and restoring data has built-in scalability, which allows each company to match the size of storage space with its needs. In addition to security, availability and simplicity, Cloud backup allows each company to redirect IT resources to other important tasks and strategic initiatives. This way, IT can contribute to the achievement of important company’s goals, growth and development.

In the case of data storage, the phrase “Better Safe than Sorry” can be accepted as a perfectly appropriate motto. In my case, it really proved itself as a right way to go. My advice to you – think about Cloud backup on time. If you come to the position to need it, one day you will be able to tell the story of a successful data recovery similar to mine.