Storage

It is important for all businesses - large or small - to keep their data safe and secure. Having a computer connected to the Internet leaves it vulnerable to outside threats. Securely storing your data by using an active firewall defends against disaster. Additionally, all of your business' data should be backed up at regular intervals to a separate location so that, in the event of data loss, it is still recoverable.

Unplanned downtime can have serious effects on computer systems, and this can result in significant business costs. There has been research into the negative long term effects of unplanned downtime on ongoing business operations and even a company’s stock price.

Critical business processes are becoming increasingly dependent on IT systems and this has inevitably led to the realisation that when IT systems crash, the business comes to a standstill. Research has found that 51 percent of businesses that suffer just one instance of major data loss end up closing.

Greater dependence on technology means that there is an increasingly large volume of data needing to be processed and protected. Research has found that less than 50 percent of data protection and recovery tasks are automated and so it is one of IT's most labour-intensive tasks.

For small and medium businesses IT budgets do not stretch to numerous staff to undertake time consuming and complex processes, making it progressively more beneficial to outsource to an IT services provider, like Claranet.