Relying on cloud services for backups and data protection arrangements is becoming increasingly common for businesses large and small. Even Government agencies are recognising the importance of cloud services and issuing guidelines for their use.

If your organisation is considering cloud backup services, it’s important to assess the (many) providers carefully to ensure that your needs will be met reliably.

After checking the technical specifications and price, other considerations include:

  • Is the technology employed by the service provider (software platform, hardware, redundancies and restoration protocols) proven and reliable?
  • What information is available about data restoration mechanisms and can you test the service for this (to ensure it actually works for you) before you commit to a contract?
  • What do existing customers say about the service (and not just the ones quoted on the provider website)? Try to actually speak to a user to ask about their experience and whether there were any surprises.
  • What assurances can the provider give you regarding data security – how are they going to keep your data secure and what will they do if the service is “hacked”?
  • What are the communication protocols and promised timeframes for support requests and customer satisfaction checks? (You don’t want only to hear from them when they invoice you.)
  • Where is your data physically stored and how safe is it from discovery? (For example, any data stored in the USA is subject to potential government inspection.)

If you have good answers to all of the above, you will have a higher level of comfort entrusting your critical data to the provider – but don’t forget that all eggs in one basket is never a good strategy.

Please contact QRMC for more information.