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Cédric Mermilliod, Sales Director of the Oodrive Group, launched AdBackup, the leading remote backup solution, more than 10 years ago. In the light of this experience and his knowledge of the problems encountered by companies in backing up data, he is keen to emphasise the essential nature of online backup for VSEs and SMEs.

These days, there is a whole host of dangers that pose a threat to a company's electronic data. First and foremost, there are risks associated with the equipment used to store data: water damage, fires and, more and more frequently, burglaries and theft. In fact, many clients are mobile workers and they are the people who more frequently simply lose their computer or have it stolen. Leaving a computer in a car, on the train, on the Underground or even simply dropping it, are often everyday occurrences.

Then there are risks associated directly with the data. After all, who has never made the mistake of inadvertently deleting a file or failing to save the latest version of a document? Who has never been the victim of a computer virus?

These days, a company's main asset is its electronic data. As soon as a company, whatever its size, understands that the heart of its business and the key to its continuity lies in its electronic data, it realises that protecting it is vital. So why are VSEs and SMEs, who are subjected to an even greater risk of losing data, so reluctant to implement a backup solution? A good backup solution in a company is no more than an insurance policy to ensure business continuity.

Data security policy,
a reality that is accessible to VSEs and SMEs as well as large corporations

Large corporations have long acknowledged the importance of keeping their critical data secure, that is to say the data that is essential for a company to immediately restore business activities in the event of a computer crash. They have implemented procedures that are often referred to as DRP or BCP (Disaster Recovery Plan or Business Continuity Plan). These days they are still exposed to an amount of risk on certain data, particularly data held by mobile workers, but effective backup measures have already been implemented.

On the other hand VSEs and SMEs consider the terms DRP or BCP as something of a luxury which they cannot allow themselves to enjoy, as they perceive themselves as small companies dependent on more rudimentary solutions, like physical peripherals.

We need to get past the image of the VSE/SME manager who, after 12 hours at work, plugs in his external hard drive, copies his data and takes it home!

We have to battle on a daily basis against this ignorance surrounding data backup by explaining that there are effective solutions these days that offer VSEs a real backup policy, on the same basis as is offered to large corporations, at a lower cost.

Remote backup,
a high technology solution perfectly adapted to suit VSEs and SMEs

There are many ways of obtaining protection against the risk of losing critical data.

The first is the traditional form of backup using physical peripherals: straightforward backup on a USB stick or even backups on semi-automatic magnetic tape systems and LTO or DLT are the solutions used most by VSEs and SMEs. Yet these modest-sized structures represent a significant investment in terms of money and time! In fact, these systems deteriorate over a period of time and require ongoing human intervention, even with semi-automatic backups.

Human intervention therefore remains a major problem. Users are not computer experts. All VSEs or SMEs, even the ones with a qualified IT service provider, need to have a process in place for placing the tape in the reader or running a backup, or even taking it home. What happens when that person goes on holiday or is sick? And what about when they leave the company? There are always complications as soon as there is a human element in the equation. The very principle of secure backup is that there is neither physical peripheral nor any human intervention.

The second option is remote backup, which seems to be the best solution for VSEs and SMEs, for two main reasons.

Firstly, because remote backup is a fully automatic and transparent solution for the client company. The backup manager (whether this is the manager/company director or even an IT reseller) always finds that these online automatic backup solutions are a sound investment providing maximum security for electronic data. In fact, managers realise that online backup ensures complete security of all critical data without having to ask anyone to make the slightest intervention.

The IT reseller then manages the backup of data from their own premises and can thus intervene remotely, should there be any concerns. This is a real plus for the end client who no longer has anything to do and no longer has to make a huge investment in physical peripherals! Furthermore, getting rid of these concerns saves time and money, which is very important for a VSE or SME...

These days, it is crazy for VSEs and SMEs not to be using remote backup, which could be explained by psychological barriers, such as the fear of outsourcing data, and by a lack of awareness of the financial benefits of the product. VSEs and SMEs still fail to realise that by outsourcing their data, they will actually upgrade to a higher level of security at a much lower cost!