Backing up data is often the last thing on a small business owner’s mind, but the consequences of losing vital data can be long-lasting and far-reaching. All too often, people forget to run backups, which means that data residing on individual devices is vulnerable to loss.
Store your data off-site
“Data loss is still a big threat to many SMEs who depend on physical servers that could be damaged or stolen,” says Vox Telecom’s Microsoft product manager Jonathan Young. “The first step in freeing yourself of that threat is to make sure you have off-site backups. This means your critical business data is recoverable when you need it.”
Guard your email
“With email having become a critical business application, the next step is to upgrade your email server,” says Young. “Hosted Microsoft Exchange gives you all the power of the Exchange server, including sharing contacts, calendars and public folders, without any of the expense and hassle of owning a physical server. Add Hosted McAfee and you protect all your email from spam, viruses and malware as well as getting an audited, searchable archive of all your mail going back up to ten years.”
A hosted solution
Vox Telecom has just announced a suite of products to bring the security, cost and reliability of corporate-grade hosted services to small and medium-sized businesses. The suite includes Microsoft Hosted Exchange, Recovery Vault and Hosted McAfee, giving comprehensive mail management, backup and disaster recovery, and security services.
Recovery Vault benefits include:
- no more cumbersome tapes;
- no backups to USBs;
- no external harddrives;
- backup can be automated; and
- reduced risk of human error.
Automated backups are the answer
“Most offices have a story about that one time someone forgot to run the backup,” he says. “Recovery Vault gives you the option of backing up continually every time a change is made, or to a schedule – you decide.”
In addition, the company is offering to pay up to R100 000 to any business that can’t restore its audited data from Vox backups.
Small companies can go the hosted route
“For the past few years most of the benefits that hosted services offered were only accessible to large corporates,” says Young. “Thanks to bandwidth and technology improvements, we’re now able to offer the same benefits at a price that makes real sense for SMEs. Hosted services cost less, and save time and hassle.”