Will your cloud services fail?

TORONTO - Feb. 3, 2015 - PRLog -- Everyone is investing in the cloud one way or another however it is important to remember that it is not foolproof. So how do you protect your business from when cloud services fail?

Many services offer financially backed uptime guarantees however even with the most reputable cloud services in the market, things are bound to go awry and mitigating the risk is as simple as being prepared.

Always read the fine print (“terms and conditions”) prior to committing to any cloud services provider. Most cloud providers take every effort to ensure uptime and protect your information especially when it comes to addressing data backup and recovery.  Some important considerations when selecting a provider include where the data stored and how quickly you can change cloud services providers to avoid a potential disaster. Many providers use multiple different data centers including backup and recovery services however they can give companies a false sense of security.

Here are a few things a business can do to minimize the consequences of possible cloud storage outages:

Backup everything – Today, most businesses rely on backing up all data using a cloud solution however there should still be a physical backup as you may not be able to access your data when outages and other failures occur. Most cloud services providers tend to get their services up and running quickly however that is not much help if you require access to your information immediately. When all of your data is stored in the cloud, you run the risk of losing it therefore it is best practice to have a local and offsite backup.  Since we provider managed IT services to many companies, we always backup information locally and offsite therefore giving them part of a disaster recovery plan.
Encrypt your data – This is an easy one however overlooked by many companies. Perhaps your company does not store sensitive information however company data is always valuable. The cloud is secure but there have been times when things have not been secure and for this reason all information should be encrypted.
Business interruption insurance – As yourself, can my business afford to lose access to data or to go offline for even brief periods of time? If you answered “No”, you might want to consider business interruption insurance and consult with your insurance broker. Interruption insurance can cover some of the costs incurred in the event of data outages and/or losses. This insurance may also cover the subsequent loss of profits also.

Supporting your business is no easy task and this is why managed IT services providers can help. With the right insurance, data backups, disaster recovery, encryption and other IT techniques, you can drastically reduce the potential of cloud storage failures and keep your data safe and your business operating.

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