Having reliable, accessible data and IT security are critical to business owners year-round, but it is particularly so during tax season.
For an accounting firm, a server crash amidst the busy season could cost the firm thousands of dollars in opportunity costs. It can also cause other problems such as loss of customers, compliance violations, and a decrease in the firm’s confidentiality integrity. For business owners, a server crash and loss of data, such as tax files and receipts, during tax season lower their opportunity for tax savings.
There are 3 common misconceptions related to data backup and retrieval, which prevent both small and enterprise-level businesses alike from utilizing proper backup systems and increasing their IT security.
Data backups are time-consuming
Many business owners and office managers associate data backup with retaining physical copies of files on tapes, flash drives, or external hard drives. This redundant and time-consuming task can seem like a burden and is subsequently done infrequently. Fortunately, with the advancement of technology and cloud services, the time associated with backing up data has been significantly reduced. Computers can be set to automatically transfer files and data to a secure cloud, which removes the need for manual backup processes. This process ensures that the security risk associated with losing data remains low and allows employees to better allocate their time to other tasks.
Data backups are expensive
As with any new technology, early systems designed to make data backups simple were too expensive for most businesses. Today, almost every business is implementing a cloud security service to protect their data and provide additional network security to minimize the danger of a cyber attack and data loss. These systems are now affordable for most businesses because they have become common and have several variations.
Once cloud services became well-known, multiple vendors began offering them, which drove prices down. Additionally, these vendors offer several variations of cloud backup services that allow business owners only to purchase the services they require for their business. These variations let business owners select a data protection plan that works for their company and avoid wasting money on unnecessary services.
Data is already being backed up
Most organizations have implemented a data backup system to protect their files at some point and, therefore, believe that their data is secure. Since the time of implementation, several different issues could have happened to the backup system causing data to be rendered vulnerable. Problems such as hardware malfunctions, servers rebooting and backup processes never being restarted, or backup procedures being designed but never implemented could all contribute to data loss and an increased risk for cyber attacks.
By using cloud services, hardware and server malfunctions are no longer a concern for businesses. Cloud services remove the need for employees to manually check backup systems and is automatically performing updates to ensure that security measures are always up to date and operating at peak efficiency. With its ease of use and increased security measures, cloud services are capable of providing better data protection than old backup systems.
These misconceptions may have been legitimate in the past, but with the development of cloud services, backups are simple, automated, and cost-effective. With cloud services in place, an IT security provider can get accounting firms up and running with minimal downtime and ensure that other businesses never lose data, letting both businesses save money and better protect their business.
To learn more about protecting your business’s data through cloud services, click here or call RJ Young at 800-347-1955.