Got Data? Choose the Best Storage Solution with This Guide
The amount of data that modern companies have to deal with is pretty staggering. And we’re not just talking about this issue from a big data standpoint. (Although that’s extremely important to consider, too.) We’re also talking about the data that your own company generates by itself. Your employee records. Payslips. Server accounts and passwords. Data repositories. Source code files. Word documents and spreadsheets. There’s so much information that a company has to deal with. And what would happen if something were to happen that saw all that data disappear or become corrupted? I’m guessing the result wouldn’t be a big office party.
This is why so many businesses are becoming more cautious with such information. Many are beginning to back up data or even migrate it completely to the cloud. Others are also considering other off-site storage solutions. These options, of course, have their benefits and disadvantages. But there’s no denying that it’s a smart move as long as you have local backup.
Off-site storage, be it with backup servers or cloud hosting, is vital for modern businesses. You don’t even have to consider it solely from a storage security standpoint. It helps streamline your entire work process. It takes a big weight off of your IT resources.
But how do you go about selecting the right company to work with? The service you use for off-site storage must be put under close scrutiny. There are plenty of amazing services out there. But to find them, you have to know what questions you should be asking and answering. Here’s a quick guide that will help you figure out if a given off-site storage solution is right for you.
What is it you actually need?
“To keep data backed up” isn’t quite good enough an answer. You need to be a lot more specific when defining what it is you need. Do you need a company who can handle terabytes worth of offline files? Do you need someone to basically act as a web host? What you need will determine the specs you should be working with.
How much are you willing to spend?
Sure, there are some off-site storage solutions you can use for free. But they’re going to be free for a reason. They often don’t allow you to use more than 2-5GB of data. That might sound like a lot. But just wait until you start backing that data up. That free space is going to get eaten up very quickly! You need to figure out how much you’d be willing to spend. Research the pricing options of the services you’re interested in. If you want to look into renting physical off-site servers, for example, research colocation pricing.
What’s the location of this service?
Where is this service actually based? You may think that this is all a lot more abstracted than it actually is. All of these services are going to be using servers that are physically based somewhere in the world. If it’s somewhere nearby with great Internet service, excellent. If it’s in a place you’ve never heard of that suffers from outages due to inclement weather? Avoid it.
Do previous customers like them?
Presumably, other people will have used this service before you. It’s almost certain that people are still using the service. If possible, you should get the opinions of current customers and previous customers. You can usually find both by searching for reviews online. Not everyone who is a previous customer will have had a negative experience with that company. But it’s still important to know what they liked – and why they left.
How big a priority is security?
Hopefully, the service you’re looking at it bragging about their security measures. After all, what’s the point of backing something up if the backup location is compromised? Find out as much as you can about the measures they will take to protect your data.
What’s the support like?
The customer support that a service offers can make or break it. I know web hosts who are among the strongest in the business. But their shoddy customer service reveals itself on the rare occasion that something does go wrong. And that reputation is enough to make people go with another company who may not be as consistently functional. (But, at least, have great customer service that sorts out any problems immediately!) Find out as much as you can about their customer service.
Can they grow along with you?
This is something business owners often forget to consider. You want your business to grow, right? Then you need to be sure that the people handling your data can cope with that. See what growth packages they offer. If they’re not scalable, you might not be able to work with them for very long.
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