Using hosting to reduce disaster and HDD recovery downtime
Outsourcing HDD recovery and data security services in general to hosting companies is a new, but strong trend in the IT industry. According to a study by IDC, companies that outsource data security services to the hosting companies feel more secure than those managing data security themselves. The IDC report states also that outsourcing helps companies reduce the downtime caused by data loss and subsequent HDD recoveries. On average, specialized hosting companies can provide faster, better and cheaper services than in-house data security & hardware maintenance departments.
How does data security & hardware maintenance outsourcing look in practice? Most of the time companies retain control over the data itself, but outsource the management of their system to the hosting company. The specialized hosting companies are then in charge of security, data loss prevention and recovery (including HDD recovery). This minimizes the chance of data loss and reduces the maintenance downtime the human error margin is seriously reduced.
The strong points of hosting the company’s IT systems are: 1) improvement of the computer system performance (reduced downtime, higher percentage of successful data recoveries), 2) lower data security-related expenses (hosting companies can use the scale effect to reduce their fees) and 3) concentrating on the company’s main goal much easier. From the economic point of view, outsourcing data and HDD recovery is a good idea that will sooner or later become a necessity.
Many companies are still worried about their data security. Letting their own hardware specialist’s do a HDD recovery of a chief manager’s PC is one thing. Outsourcing it to an external company is another. What is missing in this reasoning is the fact that most security breaches are due to either hacking or the industrial espionage performed by the company’s employers~ not by hosting companies. Statistically speaking, your data is safer if it’s moved away from your company than if they stay in. Even if you add the possibility of a security breach, outsourcing still has an upper hand.
There are already thousands of companies that have decided to host their IT systems somewhere else. They are safer, they run cheaper and their managers can concentrate on their work instead of HDD recovery attempts to restore key files they need for tomorrow~s meeting.
Daniel Gottilla author
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