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2Align Your Business Resiliency Expectations with the Providers Capabilities
Be sure to vet the experience curve and capability breadth of vendors. Do they offer heterogeneous support for all platforms and applications? How do you define roles/responsibilities? Do they offer service-level agreements, and do they stand behind them? Most importantly, do you have access to that vendor when disaster occurs? Do they offer 24×7 access to a dedicated support and service organization?
3Online Backup Does Not Guarantee Business Resiliency
4Be Aware of Data Security and Privacy
5Backing Up Virtual Machines Is Different than Physical Machines
6What Is the Mobility of Your Data?
Can your provider get you access to your data at a moment’s notice? Can they burn it to a DVD or CD if need be? Can they ship that data elsewhere in event of disaster? What are their capabilities when power is lost or a hurricane strikes? Be sure you partner with a provider that is credible, and that will be able get you your data back, whenever you need it.
7Are You Paying for Data Storage or Data Protection?
Some providers charge customers based on the amount of data stored. So enterprises that implement frequent file saves can incur skyrocketing costs based on the accumulation of file changes over time. Conversely, providers that incorporate technologies, such as advanced deduplication and file compression integral to their data protection strategy, can help customers keep their costs down.
8Demand Service Flexibility/Capability, Regardless of Location
How large a data protection footprint does the provider have? Some have the ability to back up data locally first, and then replicate it to the cloud. Because bandwidth is at a premium internationally, an on-premises solution for multinational organizations can mask infrastructure issues in the geography of certain countries.
9Know That One Size Does Not Fit All
Every vendor has a different approach. Evaluate vendor capabilities/services to tailor a solution that addresses your enterprise needs.