Today’s blog topic is about the various ways online backup companies save you money. There is an excellent article written by David M. Smith PhD, through Pepperdine University, that addresses some really superb points about the cost of data loss http://gbr.pepperdine.edu/2010/08/the-cost-of-lost-data/. To summarize, Dr. Smith states that although it is difficult to precisely measure the intrinsic value of data, several sources in computer literature suggest that the value of 100 megabytes of data is valued at approximately $1 million, translating to $10,000 for each megabyte of lost data. Using this figure, and assuming the average data loss incident results in 2 megabytes of lost data, one can calculate that such a loss would cost a business $20,000. Factoring in a 17% probability that the incident would result in permanent data loss, one can further predict that each such data loss would cost $3,400.
For arugments sake, let’s cut 50% off of that figure for data loss - so it becomes $1,700. Just to be frugal, let’s cut another 50% off that calculation and you get $850. Now, if you lost 2 megabytes of data (lost it forever) it’s fair to assume that there’s a substantial cost associated with the recreation of that data. Let’s not forget the cost of a two (2) terabyte hard drive hovers around a $100. Check out this link we found today from Best Buy http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Hard-Drives/External-Hard-Drives/abcat0504003.c?id=abcat0504003. It wasn’t but a few months ago that a one (1) TB hard drive cost $100, now you get double the storage capacity for one Benjamin. Here’s a video that we put together that talks about the massive capacity of external hard drives these days http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M43reV3ZqJw.
Imgine what would happen if one of these drives crashed and you lost all the data on there? Well, you do the math, but it would cost either way; if you apply Dr. Smith’s valuations on data loss or if you cut his figures in half like we did above.
Therefore, the three (3) major ways online backup companies save you money are:
1. Provide safe data centers where your data is not subjected to everyday data loss scenarios (drive corruption or human error)
2. You don’t need to invest in hardware to do your backups. We managed all of the technology on our end. Now you turn a capital expense into an operating expense.
3. You don’t need to hire technical support staff to help you out because our Backup Specialists are assigned to your account so you always have someone to call for support – and all of our Customer Care team is located in the U.S.
Hopefully, our line of reasoning makes sense to you. We’ve seen the effects of data loss on a small business and – it’s ugly. Talk is cheap, but it you could witness the stress and panic that occurs when a businesses realizes that they’ve lost their data - does that figure of Dr. Smith’s seem really low!
If you’d like to learn more about online backup along with the security and cost savings associated with it, please feel free to give us a call at 1 877 310-2884 and we’d be happy to continue this conversation with you in person.
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