Every business that has experienced data loss knows the feeling: that moment when you realise that weeks, months or years of work may be gone. Ransomware, hardware failure, accidental deletion, fire, theft — the causes vary but the result is the same. A reliable backup strategy is not optional. It is one of the most fundamental requirements of responsible business IT.
Local Backup
A local backup stores copies of your data on a physical device that you own and control — an external hard drive, a NAS (Network Attached Storage) device, or a backup server in your office. Local backups have one major advantage: speed. Restoring from a local backup is typically much faster than downloading everything from the cloud.
The disadvantages are significant, however. A local backup stored in the same location as your primary data is vulnerable to the same physical threats — fire, flood, theft, power surge. Many businesses have discovered this the hard way. A backup in the same room as the device it protects is better than nothing, but it is not a complete solution.
Cloud Backup
Cloud backup sends encrypted copies of your data to a secure data centre in a remote location. Your data is protected from local physical threats and is accessible from anywhere with an internet connection. For ransomware — which encrypts local files and can spread through a local network — an offsite cloud backup is often the only viable recovery option.
The main consideration is recovery time: if you need to restore large volumes of data, downloading from the cloud can take hours or days, depending on your internet connection speed.
The 3-2-1 Backup Rule
The industry-standard approach to reliable data protection is the 3-2-1 rule:
- 3 copies of your data (1 primary + 2 backups)
- 2 different storage media (e.g. local NAS + cloud)
- 1 copy offsite (always in a different physical location)
This strategy protects against hardware failure, local disasters, ransomware, and accidental deletion simultaneously.
VisiSupport Backup Services
All VisiSupport SaaS environments include daily automated backups as part of the subscription. For clients with websites and hosted applications outside the SaaS platform, we offer a managed backup service that handles automated daily backups, secure offsite storage and regular restore testing. Knowing your backup works before you need it is the only way to truly be protected.
Contact us at [email protected] or visit our IT Services page.
