On-premises business backup

Put your data at risk and you're putting your business at risk. Dave Mitchell explains how to put safeguards in place and what backup products can help

- Dave Mitchell

Data backup is a fundamental part of a business protection and continuity strategy and SMBs that don’t implement such safeguards this are taking some dreadful risks. The value of data can’t be overestimated: it’s the only business asset that isn’t expendable. Once it’s gone, it’s gone for good.

Today’s bleak threat landscape makes it even more important for businesses to secure their data. An accidentally deleted file may be an inconvenience, but SMBs need to protect themselves against a raft of major incidents, including data breaches, ransomware attacks, severe weather events, fire, floods and equipment theft.

This cavalier attitude can’t be due to lack of choice as there are plenty of good quality backup products on the market that cover all business environments and budgets. In fact, the biggest hurdle facing SMBs today is the sheer range of solutions, so it’s extremely important to pick the one that fits their data protection requirements best to avoid inadequate recovery procedures.

This month, we look at backup products designed to be run onpremises and test software solutions from four established names – Arcserve, Iperius, Nakivo and Veritas. These are very affordable options for SMBs, and we’ve put them through their paces in the lab to help you make the right choice.

Backup in the house

On-premises backup software offers a number of advantages over cloud-based solutions. You don’t need an internet connection to access data for recovery purposes and, as it’s stored at an in-house primary location, you have total control over access security.

The initial expenditure will be higher than cloud services, but you won’t need to factor in monthly or yearly storage subscription fees so ongoing costs will be much lower. You can customise the host hardware to your requirements and any configuration changes, upgrades and software updates can be run at your discretion and at times of your choosing.