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Whether you are running a small business or a large enterprise, data is the most valuable asset to every organization in this digital world. Therefore, it’s extensively important to store data securely and maintain its integrity. As per the survey of Unitrends conducted in 2019, 84% of companies are using cloud-based data backup and recovery services, with 8% saying that they are looking forward to implementing cloud storage and around 8%- 9% said that they do not have any plan to subscribe to cloud storage services.

Cyber ​​attacks are increasing every day and making it necessary for all types of businesses to subscribe to data protection and recovery services. The vendor helps enterprises secure their important files and folders that contain customer information, a sales record, inventory statistics, agreements, contact lists, and other sensitive data.

Many small business owners have a misconception that only big organizations become the victim of hackers. However, it’s not true. Verizon conducted a data breach investigation in 2020 and found that about 72% of large enterprises and 28% of small companies fell victim to cybercrime. Not just that, many organizations have faced downtime due to system malfunctioning and natural disasters such as floods, earthquakes, fire, and more. Therefore, it is completely wrong to think that hackers will not attack small businesses.

Storing the data on an external storage device or backed up in an in-house database is not reliable; your data can be easily destroyed by cybercriminals or ransomware. The most effective way to ensure the safety of your crucial data is to seek the help of a managed IT support provider. IRIS Solutions offer cloud-based data storage solutions and can recover data from all kinds of storage devices. Their data storage services and recovery services protect your sensitive data from security threats and allow you to focus on key business tasks. 

Of Course, having a third party data backup and recovery support is the best way to protect the data. However, choosing the right MSP is not an easy feat. Don’t lose hope; we are here to assist you. Read on to know the major factors you should consider when looking for a data backup and recovery service provider.

• Reputation

Data plays an important role in the decision-making process, and it takes many years to collect relevant and useful data. Therefore, you should make data security a top priority. It is advisable to seek a service provider with a proven history of great-service quality. Don’t handover your crucial data to anyone without proper verification. To know the reputation of a chosen service provider, you can ask them for customer references and even talk with their current clients. This will give you a good idea about the quality of their services. 

• Backup Frequency

As a business owner, you are required to wear many hats and fill different roles simultaneously. You are so busy with your meetings, finances, etc., that you rarely get time to check if data is backed up. Therefore, it is important to ask the managed IT support provider at what frequency they will up your data and how it will be done. Different vendors follow different data backup strategies. Some MSPs back up your data as you make changes, while some provide hourly, daily, or monthly backups. Choose the vendor who is more suitable for your specific business needs.

• Disaster Recovery Plan

Natural disasters and unexpected events can take place anytime and make your data inaccessible. It is impossible to run the company’s routine operations without access to important files and folders. That’s why it is important to ensure that the cloud data backup provider you choose employs an effective disaster recovery plan. Ask them about the methodology they use to restore lost data. 

• Up-Time

The main goal of subscribing to the data backup and recovery service is to ensure that the data is available to you at any minute. Generally, everyone wants a cloud backup service with 100% uptime. However, in actual fact, it is impossible. Factually, most MSPs assure an uptime guarantee of between 99.671 to 99.995. The uptime of MSP depends on the tier. Generally, vendors are broken into 4 main tiers; tier 1, tier 2, tier 3, and tier 4. Out of these tiers, 4 MSP provides the best possible uptime. 

• Regulatory Compliance

Many data protection regulations and laws have been introduced in many countries to protect customer data. Therefore, along with your company’s data, you have to protect your customer’s personal information. Always choose such cloud storage providers who have complete knowledge of regulatory compliance. 

Wrapping Up:

Picking up a data backup and recovery provider is not an easy feat and should not be taken lightly. No one wants to change the MSP again and again, so it is important to make the right choice in the first place. The above five points can help you in choosing the most suitable data storage provider.