If your data is important to your business and you cannot afford to have your operations halted for days or even weeks due to data loss or corruption, then you'll need to read this report and act on the information shared within these pages! Read this guide BEFORE you hire your next Data Backup Service! Prepared By: XSolutions Consulting Services
I Table of Contents 1 Part I Introduction 1 Open Memo... 2 2 About The Author... 4 Part II Frightening Trends, Cases, and Questions You Should Consider 5 Part III Tape Backups Are Unreliable 6 Part IV Remote Backups: What They Are AND Why EVERY Business Should Have Them In Place 7 1 7 Critical Charecteristics... to Demand from Your Remote Backup Service 7 2 An Important Consideration... When Choosing A Remote Backup Service Provider 8 Part V Business Continuity - The Most IMPORTANT Section In This Guide! 9 1 6 Important Things... To Look For When Choosing A BDR Service Provider 10 Part VI A Final Word... 11 Part VII FREE Data Security Assessment For Qualified NY/NJ Businesses Who Want To Put Us To The Test! 13 Part VIII What Our Clients Say 15
Introduction 1 1 Introduction Choosing the wrong computer consultant to support your network can not only be incredibly frustrating and expensive, but it could end up costing you in downtime, data loss, and expensive repair bills. Choose carefully! Read this guide and you ll discover: What remote, offsite, or managed backups are, and why EVERY business should have them in place. 7 critical characteristics you should absolutely demand from any remote backup service; do NOT trust your data to anyone who does not meet these criteria. Where tape backups fail and give you a false sense of security. Frightening trends, cases, and questions every business owner should know and consider regarding data security. The single most important thing to look for in a remote backup service provider. Why merely backing up your data doesn't ensure your company's quick recovery from a disaster. Why Business Continuity should be the aim of EVERY business and what you need to achieve it. This report is provided as an educational service by: XSolutions Consulting Services LLC Pomona, New York (845) 362-9675 www.xsolutions.com contactus@xsolutions.com
2 1.1 Open Memo From the desk of: Joseph Imperato, Jr., Partner, XSolutions Consulting Services LLC Dear Colleague, Have you ever lost an hour of work on your computer? Now, imagine if you lost days or weeks of work? What if you lost your entire client database, financial records, and all of the work files your company produced or compiled? What if a major storm, flood, or fire destroyed your office and all of your files? Or if a virus wiped out your server... do you have an emergency recovery plan in place that you feel confident in? You only have to think back to Hurricane Sandy, also known as the Super Storm to find horror stories about companies that were unprepared and did not have their systems properly backed-up and never recovered from this devastating catastrophe. With recent Hurricanes Irene and Sandy, it is clear that weather patterns in the northern part of our great country are changing. Unfortunately, Super Storms will be occurring more frequently and you must be prepared in order for your business to survive future catastrophic events. Are you confident that your current computer consultant possesses the knowledge and experience to help you should a disaster strike? Here's a frightening but true story. We recently performed a Technology Assessment for a prospect. During our preliminary conversation, this business owner showed me an email from his present vendor stating that his servers were all backed up, the backup systems were fully functional, and that all of his data was secured. However, as we progressed through the assessment, a quick check of his server logs showed that his backup actually failed two weeks before (the time stamped on his email) and that his servers (he had three of them) were not backed up for those past two weeks! Now, ask yourself what would have happened to this business had his servers suddenly failed, got damaged beyond repair during another "Super Storm", or were attacked by a vicious virus that wiped out his data? Here s an starteling statistic: "70% of small firms that experience a major data loss go out of business within 1 year" Impact on U.S. Small Business of Natural & Man-Made Disasters (presented by HP and SCORE 2007) After seeing this statistic, how confident are you now in your present backup systems? Are you confident that you'll be able to restore all of your data quickly if needed? But, you say, "This could never happen to me?" Well, after working in this business over 14 years, we found that 6 out of 10 businesses will experience some type of major technology disaster that will end up costing them thousands in repairs and restoration costs. The larger the business, the higher the cost. This doesn't even include lost productivity, sales, and client goodwill. While it may be difficult to determine the actual financial impact data loss would have on your
Introduction 3 business, you can't deny the fact that it would have a major negative impact. We wrote this guide to help you understand that merely backing up data is not sufficient to protect your business from major catastrophes. The information in this guide is dedicated to helping you get the best advice and support for your money and give you useful information in making a decision that can literally save your business. Dedicated to serving you, Joseph Imperato, Jr.
4 1.2 About The Author About the author: Joseph Imperato, Jr. Partner XSolutions Consulting Services, LLC Phone: 845-362-9675 x801 Email: jimperato-jr@xsolutions.com LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/xsolutions In 1999 while still in high school, Joseph Imperato Jr. co-founded XSolutions Consulting Services LLC to help small and medium size businesses work smarter by leveraging technology to increase profits, enhance productivity, and decrease IT costs over time. Through its Managed Services program, XSolutions has had a real positive impact on their clients business operations and bottom line. Joe Imperato, Jr. has attained a Master of Science Degree in Computer Science at the State University of New York at Binghamton. His experience includes over 15 years of web and application programming with extensive database design expertise on various systems including Microsoft SQL Server, MySQL and Microsoft Access. He has trained in various programming languages including Visual Basic, VBA, C, C#, C++,.NET, Java, PHP and the SQL query language. Other areas of focus include software-as-a-service (SaaS) and optimizing service delivery. As a Partner at XSolutions, Joe works with forward-thinking small/mid-sized (SMBs) business clients who are experts in their businesses and trust XSolutions with their IT operations. In fact, XSolutions works exclusively with those SMBs that see their IT as an enabler to greater profits through increased productivity, rapid turnaround of internal business processes, and cost reduction over time. As XSolutions CEO and CIO, Joe Jr. has been responsible for the company s rapid growth in recent years, expanding XSolutions business reach culminating into win/win relationships for both XSolutions and those it serves. Always the student, Joe Jr. has employed Lean Management techniques to introduce new services to its clients, increase productivity within his company, and decrease XSolutions overall cost base allowing it to invest in technologies that enhance the customer experience.
Introduction 2 5 Frightening Trends, Cases, and Questions You Should Consider Tape backups fail frequently; they do NOT offer complete protection for your data if a natural disaster, fire, or terrorist attack destroys your office and everything in it. Business owners who were hit by hurricanes like Sandy learned a hard lesson about keeping remote backups of their data. 93% of companies that lost their data for 10 days or more filed for bankruptcy within one year of the disaster, and 50% filed for bankruptcy immediately. (Source: National Archives & Records Administration in Washington.) 20% of small to medium businesses will suffer a major disaster causing loss of critical data every 5 years. (Source: Richmond House Group) 40% of small to medium businesses that manage their own network and use the Internet for more than e-mail will have their network accessed by a hacker, and more than 50% won t even know they were attacked. (Source: Gartner Group) About 70% of business people have experienced (or will experience) data loss due to accidental deletion, disk or system failure, viruses, fire or some other disaster (Source: Carbonite, an online backup service) The first reaction of employees who lose their data is to try to recover the lost data themselves by using recovery software or either restarting or unplugging their computer steps that can make later data recovery impossible. (Source: 2005 global survey by Minneapolis-based Ontrack Data Recovery) Studies from VaultLogix has found: o Only 34% of companies test their tape backups and, of those who do, 77% have found failures. o Over ½ of critical corporate data resides on unprotected PC desktops and laptops o Key causes for data loss are: 78% Hardware or system malfunction 11% Human Error 7% Software corruption or program malfunction 2% Computer viruses 1% Natural disasters 1% Other Only 25% of users frequently back up their files, yet 85% of those same users say they are very concerned about losing important digital data. More than 22% said backing up their PCs was on their to-do list, but they seldom do it. 30% of companies report that they still do not have a disaster recovery program in place, and 2 out of 3 feel their data backup and disaster recovery plans have significant vulnerabilities.
6 Today s hard drives store 500 times the data stored on the drives of a decade ago. This increased capacity amplifies the impact of data loss. You have a 30% chance of having a corrupted file within a one-year time frame. 3 Tape Backups Are Unreliable If your like most business owners you've been smart enough to install some type of backup system for your business. Unfortunately, far too many business owners selected a tape backup system. If you did, know this: Tape backups are notorious for failure. But what's really dangerous is that most companies don't realize it happened until it's too late! That's why history is riddled with stories about companies losing millions of dollars worth of data. In almost every case, these businesses had some type of backup system in place, but were sickened to find out that it wasn't working when they needed it the most. To refresh your memory, go back and re-read the story in my memo at the beginning of this booklet. Even though that customer wasn't using tape, his remote backup system failed weeks prior to our meeting, and he didn't even know it! While you should always maintain a local backup of your data, here are a few reasons why using tape is not a very good idea considering the available alternatives: What if your tape drive malfunctions rendering it useless and making it impossible to restore your data. o IMPORTANT: it is very common for tape drives to malfunction without giving any warning signs. o VERY IMPORTANT: Did you know that you can only retrieve data from your tape with a compatible tape drive? If you've had your drive for more than two years, did you ever check to see if it hasn't been phased out or if it still available to order a replacement? What this means is that even if your data is good on the tape and your drive has malfunctioned, you may not be able to purchase a replacement to retrieve your data. What if your office and everything in it is destroyed (even your tape drive) by a fire, flood, hurricane, or other natural disaster. What would you do? Tapes can easily become corrupted due to mishandling, heat, or other elements. Once corrupted, your data is lost. A virus spoils the data stored on the tape drive. Some of the more aggressive viruses not only corrupt the data, but they won't allow anyone to access the data on the drive. How would you handle that? Someone in your office accidentally formats the tape, erasing everything on it. Your data is now gone! Theft - a disgruntled employee intentionally erases everything or a thief breaks in and steals ALL of
Tape Backups Are Unreliable 7 your equipment. Again, your data is now gone! A faulty sprinkler system "waters" all of your electronic equipment. Your tape drive is now rendered useless. Now what? Bottom line: Tape drives are antiquated, unpredictable and not a very good selection to entrust your company's important data to especially with the availability of much better technologies. If you're using tape, it's time to upgrade. 4 Remote Backups: What They Are AND Why EVERY Business Should Have Them In Place The ONLY way to completely protect your data and guarantee that you could restore it all after a major disaster is by maintaining an up-to-date copy of your data offsite in a high-security facility. Remote backups, also called offsite backups, online backups, or managed backups, is a service that allows you to maintain a secure copy of your data in a different location than your office. Usually this type of backup is done automatically via the Internet after hours to a high-security facility. There is no question that every business owner should have an offsite copy of their data; however, there ARE big differences among remote backup services and it s critical that you choose a good provider or you could end up paying a lot of money only to discover that recovering your data the very reason why you set up remote backups in the first place is not an easy, fast, or simple job. 4.1 7 Critical Charecteristics to Demand from Your Remote Backup Service The biggest danger businesses have with remote backup services is lack of knowledge in what to look for. There are literally hundreds of companies offering this service because they see it as an easy way to make a quick buck. But not all service providers are created equal and you absolutely want to make sure you choose a good, reliable vendor or you ll get burned with hidden fees, unexpected gotchas, or with the horrible discovery that your data wasn t actually backed up properly, leaving you high and dry when you need it most. If your remote backup provider doesn t meet all 7 of these points, then you d be crazy to trust them to store your data: 1. Military-level security, data transfer, and data storage. This is fairly obvious; you want to make sure the company housing your data is actually secure. After all, we are talking about your financial information, client data, and other sensitive information about your company. Never trust your data to anyone that doesn t have the following security measures in place: a) Ask your service provider if they are HIPAA, Sarbanes-Oxley, Gram-Leach-Bliley, and SEC NASD compliant. These are government regulations that dictate how organizations with highly
8 sensitive data (like banks and doctor s offices) handle, store, and transfer their data. If you are a medical or financial institution, you are required by law to work only with vendors who meet these stringent requirements. But even if you are NOT an organization that falls under one of these regulations, you still want to choose a provider who is because it s a good sign that they have high-level security measures in place. b) Make sure the physical location where the data is stored is secure. Ask your service provider if they have an ID system, video surveillance, and some type of card key system to allow only authorized personnel to enter the site. c) Make sure the data transfer is encrypted with SSL protocols to prevent a hacker from accessing the data while it s being transferred. 2) Multiple data centers that are geographically dispersed. Anyone versed in data security knows the best way to avoid loss is to build redundancy into your operations. All that means is that your remote backup service should store multiple copies of your data in more than one location. That way, if a terrorist attack or natural disaster destroys one of their locations, they have backups of your backup in a different city where the disaster did not strike. 3) Demand the ability to receive overnight copies of your data on DVD or some other data storage device. If your entire network gets wiped out, you do NOT want Internet download to be your only option for recovering the data because it could take days or weeks. Therefore, you should only work with a remote backup provider that will provide overnight copies of your data via some physical storage device. 4) On that same token, ask your service provider if you have the option of having your initial backup performed through hard copy. Again, trying to transfer that amount of data online could take days or weeks. If you have a large amount of data to backup, it would be faster and more convenient to send it to them on a physical medium. 5) Make sure your data can be restored to a different computer than the one it was backed up from. Amazingly, some backups can only be restored to the same computer they came from. If the original computer was burned in a fire, stolen, or destroyed in a flood, you re left without a backup. 6) Demand status reports of your backup. All backup services should send you an email to report failures or problems. 7) Demand help from a qualified technician. Many online backup services are self-serve. This allows them to provide a cheaper service to you. BUT if you don t set your system to back up correctly, the money you will save will be insignificant compared to the losses you ll suffer. At the very least, ask your service provider to walk you through the steps on the phone or to check your settings to make sure you did the setup properly. Better yet, have a Managed Service Provider (MSP) manage the process for you. 4.2 An Important Consideration When Choosing A Remote Backup Service Provider While the above checks are important, one of the most critical characteristics and one that is often overlooked -- is finding a company that will test the data as it is being backed up to make sure that it is viable. Nothing is more frustrating than to find out that the data being backed-up was corrupted "in-transit" and is not an exact copy of the data on your systems. This can happen as the backup
Remote Backups: What They Are AND Why EVERY Business Should Have Them In Place 9 software is copying the data from your systems and not reassembling the bits and bytes properly onto its own systems. You do not want to wait until your data has been wiped out to find out that your backup is nothing but "garbage"; yet that is exactly what most people do and they pay for it dearly. If your data is very sensitive and you cannot afford to lose it, then make sure your service provider has automatic data testing capability. Periodically, it is a good idea to physically test a sample of your data. Try to recover a set of files each month to see if they are viable. 5 Business Continuity - The Most IMPORTANT Section In This Guide! In the previous sections, we talked about data backup systems and why all businesses need them. These are called Data Backup Plans and unfortunately, most people think that a data backup plan is the same thing as a Backup/Disaster Recovery Plan (BDR). They are not the same. Here's the difference: A Backup Plan is the process and systems a business uses to make periodic copies of its data in order to recover information after it has been lost or to restore information from an earlier time period. Backup planning is a component of disaster recovery and is not to be confused with a total Disaster Recovery Plan. A Backup/Disaster Recovery Plan (BDR) is a culmination of the processes, procedures, policies, etc. used to ensure that a business can continue after suffering from a disaster. Disaster Recovery is concerned with business continuity components, such as temporary or permanent physical relocation with telephone and internet access, employee communication policies, managerial responsibilities, continuing IT Operations, insurance coverage, financing during recovery, etc. o This guide is only concerned with IT Disaster Recovery, but as you can see a full BDR plan is concerned with the total business. o An IT BDR Plan calls for a more robust backup solution than merely copying data locally or to the Cloud. HERE'S A SIMPLE FACT, WHETHER YOU CHOOSE TO BELIEVE IT OR NOT: Simply backing up your data does not ensure that you'll be able to quickly restore it and be up and running after experiencing a disaster. TIME is your chief enemy while trying to recover from a disaster. What if the servers in your office completely failed and could not be repaired or all of your equipment was destroyed during a disaster? Merely backing up your data does not fully protect your business from a catastrophic event. Here's why: 1. Should disaster strike and claim your office it would take considerable time to purchase new servers and workstations, provision them, and restore data. Time would be your main enemy.
10 2. Servers are complicated. When an old server breaks down or becomes totally inoperable, data saved onto external drives or to the Cloud cannot just be loaded onto the brand new server. The new hardware and software environments are totally different and often do not easily support restoration from older equipment. Having backed-up data does not guarantee a quick recovery. 3. Success also depends on the viability of the backed-up data. Backed-up data needs to be tested to make sure that the files are not corrupt. Even with new hardware and software, if the backed-up data is unusable and cannot be restored, the organization would suffer. Backing up data is one component of Disaster Recovery and is not a replacement for a Disaster Recovery plan. The focus of any Disaster Recovery Plan should be Business Continuity, not just saving data. The length of time it takes a business to recover is directly related to their survival. If it takes too long, clients will lose confidence and simply go elsewhere and the company will eventually fail. Let me repeat that: The focus of EVERY company's Disaster/Recovery Plan should be BUSINESS CONTINUITY! Just having a backup of your data is not sufficient. If this is all you have, your business is at risk. 5.1 6 Important Things To Look For When Choosing A BDR Service Provider Now that you know the difference between a Data Backup Plan and a Backup/Disaster Recovery Plan (BDR), let's discuss what your business actually needs to quickly recover from disasters like Hurricane Sandy: 1. A local onsite device that backs up the data on your servers and workstations including full images of the server s state to facilitate fast backup and restores. 2. The ability of the onsite device to function as a server with the click of a mouse to support your company's operations should the server suddenly go down and need repairs or replacement. 3. Offsite storage to secured, certified data centers using anti-corruption technology to ensure the health of back-ups. The server s data and images are safely stored in the Cloud in case the onsite appliance is damaged in a disaster. 4. Bare Metal Restore (BMR) capability. BMR allows you to restore server data and applications onto entirely new hardware in a fraction of the time it would take to fully provision a new server regardless of the differences between your old and new equipment. This technology works with workstations as well. This capability alone will save you a massive amount of time and allow you to quickly get your IT operations up and running. BMR can reduce recovery time from weeks and days to just hours. a) Bare Metal Restore capability in our opinion, is the most critical aspect of a quality BDR system. If your present vendor cannot supply this critical need, then change vendors! Don't compromise your company's future. 5. Hosted Exchange Services. Consider using Hosted Exchange for your company email, placing this service in the Cloud and separating it from your onsite server configuration. This Hybrid Cloud Solution will allow your email to continue to function even if your onsite servers are shut down or
Business Continuity - The Most IMPORTANT Section In This Guide! 11 damaged. You and your employees can continue to communicate with each other and to clients from any other location with an internet connection. a) In fact, the Service Provider you choose should be able to offer this option to you in addition to supplying the backup system. If they can't do this, change vendors. 6. Active Management of your BDR system. As our story in the beginning of this guide showed, an unmanaged backup system can give you a false sense of security that can have devastating consequences to your business. Make sure your system, whether you opt for an inexpensive Cloud data backup or a robust Business Continuity Solution as described above, is actively managed to ensure that its operating correctly. 6 A Final Word... I hope you ve found this guide to be helpful in shedding some light on what to look for when outsourcing your company s Backup/Disaster Recovery systems. As I stated in the opening of this report, my purpose for providing this information was to help you make an informed decision and avoid getting burned by companies offering bad and ineffective service. I hope this ebook convinced you that Business Continuity is key to your company's survival should disaster strike. If you have any comments or questions, we welcome them! Have an idea on how to make this guide even more helpful? Let us know. And of course, if you re looking for someone you can trust to install and manage a comprehensive Backup/Disaster Recovery system for your company, we d love the opportunity to EARN your business. Below you ll find information on how to request a FREE Data Security Assessment. This is, of course, provided free with no obligation or expectations on our part. I want to be clear that this is NOT a bait and switch offer or a trick to get you to buy something. My reputation for running an honest and trustworthy business is something I hold very dear. I would never jeopardize that in any way. So, why are we offering something like this for free? Two reasons: 1. We are simply offering this service as a risk-free get to know us offer to companies that we haven t had the pleasure of doing business with. Again, our goal is to allow you to make an informed decision; and offering this is one way we can help you better evaluate us. 2. This will allow us to determine if we even CAN help you. Obviously, we can t help everyone and our services might not be a good fit for you. Conducting this Data Security Assessment enables us to do a small project for you to help you evaluate whether or not we re the right company for you without risking your money. Looking forward to your call! The Support Team at XSolutions Consulting Services Phone: (845) 362-9675
12 Web: www.xsolutions.com
A Final Word... 7 13 FREE Data Security Assessment For Qualified NY/NJ Businesses Who Want To Put Us To The Test! As a prospective customer, we d like to offer you a FREE Data Security Assessment (a $500 value). During this Assessment, we will perform a comprehensive review of your company s current data protection and look for potential problems that you need to be aware of that can put your company at risk. At No Charge, We ll Come To Your Office And Review your current data protection, including: o Backup and restore procedures. o Rotations (for Tape users). o Backup Storage and transportation procedures. Many people don t realize that improperly handling your backup media during transport can damage disks, thereby corrupting your data. o Checking your network backup to make sure it is accurately backing up all of your critical files and the information you would NEVER want to lose. Assess your server configuration to make sure that your server is setup to minimize lost data due to hard drive crashes. Discuss your current data protection needs and explain in plain English where your risks are. We know everyone has a different level of risk tolerance and we want to make sure all the risks you re taking with your data are by choice and not because of miscommunication or accident. Discuss other technology-related issues you may want more information on such as: computer support, alternate Cloud and Hosting configurations, etc. Depending on what we discover, we ll either give you a clean bill of health or reveal gaps in your data backup and disaster recovery process that could prove disastrous. If it s appropriate, we ll provide you with an action plan for further securing your data with our Data Secure Backup/Disaster Recovery (BDR) technology. Why Should You Care About This? Because your network could be vulnerable to disasters, hackers, catastrophic data loss, etc. As a business owner or executive with systems responsibilities, this Data Security Assessment will give you valuable, documented information about your company s potential risks. Being aware of issues is the first step in correcting them. As this report showed you, catastrophic data loss can literally put you out of business. Doesn't it make sense to find out what you need to do to protect your company? If you ve never had a professional assessment performed on your company s IT backup systems then this Data Security Assessment is even more urgent.
14 How To Request Your FREE Data Security Assessment: There are 2 easy ways to contact us: Call us at: (845) 362-9675 Email us at: contactus@xsolutions.com
FREE Data Security Assessment For Qualified NY/NJ Businesses Who Want To Put Us To The Test! 8 15 What Our Clients Say "XSolutions has brought my business in several months where others would have taken years to achieve" "Focus, expertise, and knowledge. That's what XSolutions brought to Marine Concepts. Through custom programs, maintenance, back-up, and support, XSolutions has brought my business in several months where others would have taken years to achieve. XSolutions has allowed me to focus my expertise where it needs to be on my business. XSolutions has educated us on what is necessary to run our business more profitably, successfully, and in much less time." Pete Napoli, Partner, Marine Concepts & Motivations "Not only has XSolutions saved CIANJ time and money but we have come to rely on XSolutions for their expertise" "XSolutions has proven over and over again that a web site developer and a knowledgeable IT consultant is invaluable. Not only has XSolutions saved CIANJ time and money but we have come to rely on XSolutions for their expertise. Thank you, XSolutions, for making my job easier to perform. Every project that you do for us looks more impressive than we ever expected." Glenn Fisher, Commerce and Industry Assoc. of NJ "Besides their strong knowledge of SharePoint you can count on them to come up with great suggestions and ideas" "XSolutions has done and continues to do great work for Seacastle. Besides their strong knowledge of SharePoint you can count on them to come up with great suggestions and ideas. I hesitate to recommend them as I am afraid they will then become unavailable to us. Keep up the good work!" Randy Gottlieb, Seacastle Leasing "I no longer have stress over my computer systems not running properly or malfunctioning." "I no longer have stress over my computer systems not running properly or malfunctioning. XSolutions has seen to it that my systems are running smoothly and efficiently. XSolutions is reliable, personable and professional. Without hesitation I have recommended them to many of my clients and all have only raved about their skills." Stuart Horvitz, CPA