This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Carbonite for IZEA. All opinions are 100% mine.
Small businesses are always looking for an advantage in a competitive market. Because loss of data can set back a small business, it is important to have an online backup service that does not fail. Security of private information is a primary concern for small and medium businesses. Because business create and use large amounts of data every day, every business must protect their data in order to thrive and strive in their industry. Imagine your worst case scenario for loss of data but then consider these solutions.
data loss
Take for example a family-owned restaurant. Among their listed data, would be employee records to financial receipts to food recipes. In order to protect that information, cloud solutions ensure that the restaurant’s data is safe from threats of all types. While the restaurant owner may think they are saved from any of these threats, the threats take many forms like hackers, acts of nature and employees making the mistake of accidently deleting files. Imagine one of those scenarios happening and how much work it would take for your business to recover from it.
IT professionals at small and midsize businesses have said that businesses will most likely lose data if they have not already. The costs of losing that data will far exceed the cost of prevention say these same professionals. Businesses that experience this loss of data tend to be without it much longer then they initially realized. Because the time it takes to recover data depends greatly on their backup method.
data backup
Say a natural disaster destroys the restaurant, while insurance coverage will replace their systems that may be lost, stolen or destroyed, insurance coverage will not recover the data that lived on those systems. A cloud backup will ensure that the restaurant has added coverage to protect itself. While small businesses sometimes experience an incident requiring disaster recovery, the leading cause by far was man-made, like accidental file deletions and spilled coffee.
In a survey of 160 IT professionals, 48% of respondents reported losing data in the last year alone. This includes hardware failures, power surges and natural disasters. In a survey of more than 700 small to mid-size businesses, 80% reported experiencing downtime.
data protection
Turning to ransomware attacks, medical companies are particularly vulnerable to these threats. Ransomware is a form of malware that locks up your files and threatens to render them inaccessible unless the victim pays the ransom. Although firewalls and anti-virus programs are a means to secure any small business, all it takes is one mistaken click on a bad link by an employee and the entire infrastructure could be compromised. Don’t let one bad click ruin everything.
Another survey provided estimates for the per-hour cost of downtime for very small, small and midsize businesses. In that survey, it suggests that every hour of unplanned downtime costs $8,220 for very small businesses (fewer than 10 employees); $10,790 for small businesses (between 10 and 99 employees); and $25,600 for midsize businesses (between 100 and 499 employees).
protect your data
While external threats exist, small businesses are also vulnerable to employee theft. Losing customer or other business essential data can cost a business a significant amount of money. This is particularly an issue for medical and dental offices that deal with enormous amounts of personal information and would be liable for the loss of any of that information. In the worst case scenario, employee threat could result in the business such as the medical and dental office being shut down.
small business stories
Running a small business is hard work and most times, very chaotic. But do not allow your data be lost. Carbonite knows that small businesses sometimes fail and they are there to help.