Every organisation needs to be able to securely backup their data in order to ensure business continuity in the event of an unforeseen IT disaster, because losing data and the ability to operate as normal can often lead to losing business. With the arrival of GDPR, this has become an even more pressing matter, as organisations need to be able to locate, access and share an individual’s data with them at very short notice if they are subject to a data request. However, choosing and operating an effective backup model presents many big challenges for businesses in the UK. With the help of an outsourced IT support service in London, you can overcome these obstacles and continue with business as usual, secure in the knowledge that your backup capabilities are in safe hands.
Here are four of the big challenges businesses face when they require an effective but cost-efficient backup model, and how an outsourced IT support team can help:
The in-house IT team doesn’t have the time for ongoing backup management
As technology becomes an increasingly important element of every business, the demands on every in-house IT team are growing. Dealing with everything from cyber security issues, to machine management, from simple break-fix scenarios to overhauls of the IT infrastructure, they can become overstretched, and planning, managing, monitoring and troubleshooting the backup model is another very important task they would rather not have to deal with when they could be investing time and budget into innovations that will help the business grow.
Hiring an outsourced IT support service means that your in-house IT team can stop worrying about the organisation’s backup requirements, and start focusing on the many other jobs at hand. Routine tasks such as monitoring backup efficiency and running tests can be left to the external support team, so your internal team can concentrate their efforts on future-proofing the business.
On top of that, a good outsourced IT support service should be able to take a proactive approach to IT maintenance, including backup capabilities, to recognise the organisation’s future needs in line with the IT roadmap, and ensure they have the right tech solutions in place to enable growth.
Backup is a big CapEx cost
Setting up a backup system is a big IT project that takes a lot of resources and a sizeable chunk of the IT budget. Investing in the necessary hardware and software, devoting a significant amount of time to integrate systems, and then taking care of ongoing maintenance, monitoring and testing, means the business is looking at considerable CapEx costs. And that’s before you even consider expansion and upgrading as the need arises.
On the other hand, adopting an OpEx approach whereby an external IT support team sets up the backup capabilities (servers, software and operating systems) for your business, and provides more capacity if and when it is required, means the business will only be billed for what it consumes. A minimum level of use is usually agreed, but the flexibility inherent in this model means the company can increase or reduce its backup requirements, and therefore costs, as the need arises.
An IT provider can also act as a virtual CTO to monitor the efficiency of all of your IT assets, ensuring you have the tech solutions you need for effective backup and processes, and can advise on the upgrades you need, and those you don’t need, so that you won’t make any unnecessary purchases that will impact negatively on the IT budget.
Cloud backup reduces costs, but also control
One way businesses try to avoid the large CapEx costs associated with backup is to adopt a cloud-based approach, with more and more organisations moving to the cloud as a cost-effective way to process, store and backup their business-critical data. In weighing up the pros and cons of such a move, there are many obvious benefits such as the savings made on not having to buy and maintain an in-house server, but one disadvantage is that moving your data, apps and systems off-premises means that the business loses a certain amount of control.
Network issues can result in your data, including your backup, becoming unavailable, meaning the business has to tread water until everything is back up and running again. Also, while cloud services are becoming ever-more reliable, many businesses may still worry about the loss of peace of mind that keeping data in-house brings, and can be concerned about data protection and security, especially with GDPR on the horizon.
A trusted IT support partner, however, can provide the solution. They can take care of your data backup for you in their own secure environment, minimising the risks associated with external storage and backup. You don’t have to pay for expensive hardware, and they can provide a backup as a service pricing model, meaning you only have to pay for the data backup you want.
Businesses don’t know how much capacity they need
Another big issue for businesses in the UK is knowing how much backup capacity they will need, with many organisations tending to make a guess at their requirements for the next two or three years and investing accordingly. On the one hand, businesses don’t want to face not having enough capacity to meet demand as they grow, or to accommodate sudden peaks, but on the other, they can be wary of purchasing too much and lamenting the unnecessary expense.
Providing backup as a service, an outsourced IT support team in London can offer a capacity buffer, so the business can avail of the increases need to meet sudden demand peaks, and can monitor your backups to ensure you have enough capacity. They can also monitor and analyse your business activity to forecast how much capacity you will need in the coming months, and even years, and take a proactive approach to providing it, so your internal IT team doesn’t have to spend time on backup planning, and you don’t have to worry about disruption to daily business processes.
In short, an outsourced IT support team can provide your business with an ongoing, dependable backup service akin to a pay as you go model. That model is an end to end service that includes backup of all business data across both in-house and cloud servers, taking care of all necessary equipment, apps, processes and management, leaving you free to concentrate on running your business.
Find out how the team at Optimity can help your business implement and maintain a cost-effective and efficient backup plan by getting in touch with us, and discover what you need to get started by booking an IT audit:
