Among Lentner’s clients we can find a diversity of industries: medical, financial, real estate, marketing, technology, and retail. As a computer consultant, Lentner (http://www.lentner.com) knows that every other computer-related component of a business can be repaired or replaced if it fails or is destroyed. But information is not easily recovered - if it can be recovered at all. That’s why he recommends that all clients have a reliable backup strategy in place. Different clients have different backup requests. Some must deal with compliance issues such as length of time data must be retained, audit trails of data access, or other data access restrictions, but the underlying basic tenet of backup safety is ensuring that whatever data the client deems important is secure and available to him if he experiences data loss or a disaster.

    “Every minute a business is down is costing that business money, so getting a business back up and running as promptly as possible is crucial. If the data is not backed up and ready for restore, that process is going to be slow and arduous – so slow that many businesses do not survive a catastrophic data loss. After a catastrophe happens, it’s too late, so having a reliable backup system in place is vital. I recommend online backup as the best way for my clients to prevent catastrophic data loss.”

    Online backup works for small, mid-sized, and large clients and offers many advantages. According to Lentner, all online backup companies are not the same. "The ‘free’ and almost free services work fine for a home user who only needs to restore a couple of files. These services do not work for business clients because support is almost non-existent, and, if you have data loss where the operating system is compromised or experience any other number of problems, expert assistance is critical.” Adds Lentner, “Backup providers are like insurance companies – you won’t know how good they are until disaster strikes.”

The most important things about related to the backup providers:

#    Who has access to the information? Many services say they encrypt data, but if they also say they can send you your password or reset it, then your data is not secure. If data security is an issue, look for a company that does not have access to your password. Ask what happens if a password is lost or forgotten. Your information is safe from prying eyes if the company tells you data cannot be restored or a complete data reseed with a new password is required if you lose your password.
#    How do I know the backup ran successfully and is the report easily understood? No matter how “automatic” a backup service is, some oversight of the backup process is required. There must be a notification process in place, and the reports must be simple to comprehend. A tiered reporting process is ideal, so that if a notification does not elicit a response or action, another notification process is triggered. The best companies have multi-tiered notification and reporting systems to ensure clients are aware of problems or potential problems with their backups.
# Does the vendor have multiple locations? Backup companies are not immune from disaster, so it’s important that client data is simultaneously stored in two geographically distant locations.
#    What is the level quality of the technical support provided? Is tech support provided by foreign call centers where the technicians are reading canned solutions or do you have access to expert backup specialists? When a company experiences catastrophic data loss, the two most critical elements are that support must be quick and it must be knowledgeable.
#    Is it cost effective for my clients? Quality backup is not cheap, but even among the premier service providers there is a broad range of pricing and what is included in the cost. Beware of “hidden” costs. Some services charge extra for support, restores, account maintenance, and even temporary quota overages. As a rule, simpler pricing means fewer unpleasant surprises when your bill arrives.