If you are like most SMBs, you are probably thinking of online data backups as a cost addition. You probably don’t have too many systems and you have a handful of trusted employees who know their job pretty well. Why do you need to invest in online data backups? Why should you worry about data loss?

How Can You Lose Data?

Before we talk about how data loss can affect you, and what role online data backups can play, let’s take a look at what can cause you to lose your business data in the first place.

Katrina, Harvey, Irma…

We mean natural disasters. Hurricanes, floods, fires, even terrorist attacks can affect your servers and systems and cause data loss. Generally, when we speak of data loss, the first thing that comes to mind is technological problems or accidental data deletion. Many SMBs argue that they have systems in place to ensure that doesn’t happen. But, natural calamities – the ones we are most defenseless against are often the unaccounted for.

Employee Errors or Malicious Activities

Your employees may also contribute to data loss unwittingly or on purpose. Someone may accidentally delete the final version of that file instead of the older one. Someone may click on a malware link that holds your data hostage and demands a ransom that’s simply not affordable, someone may delete that important lead list out of spite on their last day at work. No matter what the reason, the cause is the same – data loss, and the result is the same – you suffer.

Your Hardware Breaks

Finally, the most obvious reason for data loss is corrupted hardware. If your hardware breaks, sometimes it becomes impossible to fix it and retrieve data.

How Bad Is Data Loss, Really?

Data Loss Can Shut Down Your Business

Did you know that when it comes to reasons that cause maximum shutdowns of SMBs, data loss leads the pack? It is extremely hard for a SMB to bounce back from a data loss experience. SMBs that lose their data are most likely to close shop within 6 months.

Data Loss Hurts Your Brand

Data loss also means severe damage to your brand and in case of a SMB, the brand that took years of market presence and goodwill to build, can be wiped out in a few seconds.

Data Loss Can Attract Legal Action

When we talk about data loss happening to your business, it is not just about your business’s data that is gone. A lot of data pertains to third parties like your customers, vendors and prospects. Plus, if you are in the professional sector, you may have to adhere to compliance and regulatory requirements in relation to the data you handle. Data loss, in such cases, makes you vulnerable to lawsuits from third parties and also risks legal penalties.

How Do Online Data Backups Help?

Online data backups help you by storing your data in the cloud. That means no matter what happens on-site, your data in the cloud stays safe. Your data is not affected as a result of server crashes, accidental deletion or even extreme events like natural disasters, water/fire accidents or terror attacks. Apart from this obvious benefit, you get the following benefits by choosing the cloud to backup your data.

Anytime-Anywhere Access

Unlike data on local machines, the cloud gives you anytime-anywhere access to your data with the internet. This is a huge plus if you have a varied workforce structure where individuals are working from home or different offices.

The Onus Of Data Security Is Offloaded

When you opt for the cloud, the responsibility of data security shifts to your cloud service provider to a great extent. That’s one less thing for your to worry about.

Scalability

The cloud lets you rent as much or as little space as you want. This is because, when in the cloud, you are sharing space with others, unlike an investment in local machines and servers, where you own all the space and may have to buy new ones for even a marginal increase in space requirements. The cloud is especially great if you are in scenario (such as a CPA) where you have seasonal staff to support you as your workload peaks at certain times of the year.

Cost Savings

Overall, the cloud works out to be cheaper, for pretty much the same reasons discussed above. You pay for only what you use, because you are sharing space with others. You can get as much or as little space as you need in contrast to investing in local machines and servers, where you are forced to pay for and buy the entire hardware for even a marginal increase in space requirements.

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Conducting data backups is a best practice, but online data backups in the cloud are even better. Get in the cloud. It is the smart way to safeguard your data.