"15% of all tape backups fail, and up to 50% of restores fail." Gartner
Backup tapes may have been around since Elvis was last on stage, but they are still in use by the vast majority of small businesses. The most recent figures show that almost 90% of SMEs depend on tapes to back up their data. This is despite the alarmingly high failure rate and the potential problems with tapes becoming corrupted, lost or stolen. Companies place huge faith in their backups so it can be a nasty shock when something goes wrong.

“34% of small businesses fail to test their backups” Boston Computing
Recent research, conducted for Connect, shows the potential for disaster that lurks around the corner. The research found that one in ten companies had lost important data after a backup tape had failed and one in four had suffered a serious server failure in the previous six months. So the chances of the average SME having a major problem are higher than most people imagine.

"51% of SMEs store their backup tapes on site” Institute of Directors
It is self evident that backing up data is vital for any company, so why do so many businesses depend on such dated technology? The reason is simple: backing up data is one of those mundane every day tasks that can easily be forgotten about in a busy organisation. It is often the smallest things that can trip up even the most well run enterprise. In fact, virtually every other aspect of the business will probably be more pressing than whether your company’s backups are working – until the day there is a major problem.

But the loss of even a small number of files, your customer database or sales material can take days or even months to recreate. In some instances, the data can never be recovered. In the meantime, your company’s reputation with customers and suppliers is likely to have been permanently damaged.

"Half of all companies that suffered a major loss of computer data closed within two years" DR World
So how vulnerable could your company be? A few simple questions can help you decide: how quickly can you get access to all your back up tapes, who looks after backups during holidays and illness, if the backup tapes are stored on site what would do if they were damaged by fire or flood, what would you do with your tapes if your server went down to retrieve your company’s data. If your answers to those questions have made you feel slightly queasy, you are certainly not alone.

“Only 1 in 10 SMEs back up their data over the internet” Survey Shop
Until recently, alternatives to backup tapes were simply unreliable or too expensive. However, technological advances mean that there are workable – and cost effective – solutions now available. For larger companies, especially those with more than one office location, data from one server can be copied to a “mirror” server at the other location. With the cost of capacity on servers falling dramatically though this is a far more realistic option.

The alternative for smaller enterprises is online backup, where all files are automatically encrypted and saved over the internet to a remote server, hosted by another company. Already used by a minority of companies, it is predicted that the majority of businesses will be using this kind of alternative within the next few years.

“Online backup costs from under £100 a month” Connect Support Services
One of the key problems of using online backup services in the past was that saving all your files over the internet slowed down the speed of your connection for the rest of the business. With some of the newer online backup solutions, this is no longer the case. Once an initial copy of all your data has been taken, only the changes you make to your files are then saved, thereby reducing the potential to clog up your bandwidth. The price of these online backup services is also falling rapidly so it is now far closer to the cost of the traditional backup tapes.

Another significant advantage to switching to online backup is that it also allows you to continue working if your servers go down. This means that all your employees can continue on working, amending documents and databases, directly over the internet, on the back up server files. In addition, you can also send and receive emails. So, in effect, your business can continue to operate whatever the problem.

By now, most people have already forgotten most of their New Year’s pledges but deciding to ditch your old backup tapes might be one promise that you can keep – and it might even save your business.


Mark MacGregor, Chief Executive, Connect Support Services

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