While the advent of inexpensive external hard drives have made the chore of backing up faster and easier, it has also made some IT people complacent about having proper backup procedures in place.

It's amazing how many times I have walked into a new clients' server room and noticed a trusty external hard drive sitting on top of their server - entrusted with the backing up of their critical data. When asked "Do you have backups kept elsewhere?" I am often met with a blank look or asked why backups should be kept elsewhere.

Would your data be safe if a fire went through your business tomorrow? Are all your backups kept on-site? It's crucial for your backup strategy to include some form of off-site backup - whether it be on a disk someone takes home (no less than once per month) or using an online backup solution. While it is probably more common to have to restore a backup because of system failure or an accidental deletion it is still a possibility that some disaster could affect your business - destroying your premises and any data held there.

Having some form of off-site backup as part of your organisation's backup strategy is critical for every business should the unexpected occur.