Off site back-up can be cost effective and more reliable than in house data back-ups. Choose a reliable and robust off site back-up company carefully and you will get a personal service which includes fully automated, encrypted and password protected back-up system 365 days a year. To obtain that peace of mind you need to know what a good back-up company should do for your business and what questions to ask before making any decisions.

what will a good back-up company offer?
Most companies install a small software programme on the server or PC that holds your data. The system is usually then set to connect to the back-up company’s remote servers via your internet connection (normally done at night) and upload your selected data files. This data should be fully encrypted and password protected so only personnel with authorisation or passwords can access it. It is then stored remotely on your back-up company’s servers.

When looking for a back-up company you should find one that:
• offers a personal service
• offers a fixed cost service for an agreed amount of data
• offers unlimited technical telephone support and not just email call logging - and you don’t want help from a distant call centre either
• does not tie you into a long term contract
• does not charge for restoration of data
• allows you to perform manual back-ups at any time
• checks the back-up reports, runs additional back-ups and contact you quickly if there are any problems
• uses easy interfaces; wizard guided back-up settings and features with allow users to back-up and shutdown their desktops easily. You should not be expected to have extensive IT knowledge
• offers a genuine free trial long enough for you to test it thoroughly. There should be no obligation or pressure to buy and try to go for a company that does not ask for credit card details upfront.

what technical details should I look for?
You don’t need to be a technical wizard, but you need answers to certain questions such as:
• how secure is the back-up? All selected data should be encrypted on your machine before it is sent and it should be stored in its encrypted state
• is the account password protected so only authorised personnel can access it?
• can you have an additional encryption key placed on the account?
• are random encryption seeds generated for each file to be encrypted?
• how high is compression of data files? Ideally you should look for compression up to 75%
• which applications does it support?
• which multiple platforms does it run on?
• are email reports generated for each back-up job? The reports should contain a full listing of all files backed up, and if any errors are encountered these should be highlighted. You should also be alerted if scheduled back-up is missed
• can your data be stored and retrieved in several versions? If you work on long term projects you may need to access original versions of work, or other changed versions of work
• can you access your back-up files anytime and anywhere (without additional software)?

Ensure you get answers to the above questions – and any others specific to your business - and are fully satisfied before you sign up with any back-up company. See the Duport freebies for a free 30 day trial.