Offsite Backup Is a Crucial Component of IT Support

The world, as we have learned all too well in recent years, is very unpredictable, and that unpredictability can have a measurable impact on your organizations. The key to planning for what you really cannot plan is proactivity. By anticipating potential risk, and planning for it, your organization can likely weather most storms.

Whether your organization is challenged by a pandemic or a natural disaster, human error or a targeted attack, there are always factors beyond your control that cannot be predicted. It’s because we live in an unpredictable world that proactive measures such as offsite backups have become an critical piece of IT security for every Calgary organization. Offsite backups are one of the many tools that can help protect your organization against data breaches.

What Is Offsite Backup?

As you conduct the operations of your business throughout the day, much of the data you collect and store resides on your local network. Should the building catch on fire or the network become infected with malware, that data is at risk.

While there are different approaches to offsite backups, including offsite replication of your virtual machines, incremental backups that backup what has changed in your files each day, and more. The important point is to have a backup of your files outside of your own location, in a secure server that you can restore from should something happen.

5 Reasons Your Organization Should Consider Offsite Backup

  1. Storing data offsite is more cost-effective than taking up addition onsite server space, even reducing your required energy output
  2. Offsite storage gives you access to your data when you can’t reach your office, or your network is compromised
  3. Offsite data storage is scalable up and down with your needs
  4. Ensures business continuity and your ability to meet your customers’ needs
  5. Reduced downtime. The average cost of downtime is over $5,000 a minute, according to Gartner.

These benefits alone are a powerful argument for why Calgary organizations should have a comprehensive and effective disaster recovery plan in place to ensure continuity that includes offsite backups. Today’s offsite backups are simple to set up and use, and they are a must for every business. Offsite backups help to protect organizations from the loss of data that occurs with onsite server failures or as a result of physical catastrophes such as fire, flood, theft, or vandalism.

How Do Offsite Backups Work?

Recording data to tapes and physically transporting them to a secure storage facility have been replaced by remote, cloud-based backups.

Offsite backups are not complicated.

Once the initial setup is complete, data is backed up automatically and continuously.

Image-based backups provide near-immediate recovery for virtual machines, and online backups ensure that an organization’s valuable data is securely stored in the cloud, accessible from anywhere in case the business is displaced.

This data is fully recoverable and restorable so that an organization can continue to remain operational regardless of the issue.

What Factors Are Necessary for Offsite Backups?

No business is immune to the risk of data loss or disruption from an unexpected disaster.

Your IT Support services should include offsite backup that offers:

  • Immediate disaster recovery services
  • Safe, secure storage of data
  • Local hosting and support
  • Customizable solutions
  • 24/7 monitoring
  • Virtual machine backup and replication
  • Fully managed recovery services

What Should Be Backed Up Offsite?

One of the most important considerations in creating an organization’s offsite backup and disaster recovery plan is determining what information is crucial to keep the business operational.

From client data to secure processes, from account detail to current project notes, the offsite backup should include all of the information needed to continue operating if returning to the business location is not an option.

Such information may include emails, documents, contracts, images, tax records, applications, and other rudiments necessary to conduct the day-to-day operations of the business.

What Are the Benefits of Offsite Backup?

There are a number of benefits to offsite backup, not the least of which is peace of mind.

Knowing that business data is stored safely and securely so that it is accessible no matter what happens allows business leaders to focus on achieving business objectives rather than worrying about what-ifs.

Your IT Support provider should be able to offer fully managed and customized offsite backup services with secure storage in a Calgary-based secure facility with 24/7 monitoring. Offsite backup and disaster recovery is not a one-size-fits-all solution.

The ITeam will work with your Alberta business to customize a cost-effective solution and help you develop a comprehensive disaster recovery plan that will ensure the continuity you need. Our Backup-as-a-Service (BaaS) includes:

  • Continuous Data Protection – Eliminate downtime and minimize data loss.
  • Reliable Ransomware Protection – Keep data safe with native, immutable, malware-safe storage for your backups.
  • Reduced Costs – Decrease the cost of long-term data archival and retention by up to 20x.
  • Expanded Instant Recovery – Instantly recover even more workloads, including Microsoft SQL, Oracle and NAS.
  • Veeam-Powered BaaS & DRaaS – Confidently protect company data at home, in the cloud and beyond.
  • Full System Backup – We backup full system replicas of our clients’ servers rather than just data backups.

The ITeam is committed to helping Calgary- and Alberta-based businesses develop proactive, cost-effective IT strategies that minimize risk and maximize efficiency. Learn more.


The ITeam is Calgary’s leading source for Managed IT support and cloud services. We have been recognized among the world’s 501 most strategic and innovative managed service providers (MSPs) by Channel Futures.

We are ready to help you meet your business continuity needs.