Ever since laptops first came on the market there have been challenges reliably backing up the data to protect against loss or failure. The reality today is that laptop backup solutions are still not flawless and shouldn’t be exclusively relied on to limit the risks of data loss or corruption. For example:
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- Manual backup (for example to USB) suffers both from reliance on the end user to perform the backup as well as the likelihood that the backup media will be stored with, and lost with, the laptop.
- Solutions that automatically backup to an on premises repository suffer from the need for the laptop to be in the office. Many mobile employees rarely, if ever, set foot in a company office.
- Solutions that back-up via internet call fail due to challenges from backing up over slow internet connections and the fact that the start-stop nature of the backup as the laptops connects and disconnects from the internet often “breaks” the backup – all too often without even providing an indication to the user that something is wrong.
The good news however is that cloud services can be used in many environments to eliminate or minimize the need for laptop backups:
- SaaS applications such as Salesforce, the Office 365 suite of applications, Netsuite etc. never store data on the laptop to begin with.
- Cloud based file storage solutions such as OneDrive may obviate the need to store files locally. They can also optionally synchronize files to the cloud allowing both for off-line use and again protecting the data against potential loss.
Choosing the best backup strategy for your laptops is important but not easy. Contact us, we can help you navigate through the many options.