I recently wrote a blog post highlighting the fact that too few ordinary businesses and users perform adequate backups. However, backing up your information is really only half of what you should be doing. To give yourself 100% certainty of your backups you actually need to restore them.
I can’t tell you the amount of times that I have come across people who religiously backup but when they need to actually restore data they can’t for some reason. The most likely reason is because the media is corrupted however I have even seen a case where a company was religiously backing up to write protected tapes. Since all they ever did was change the tape daily and never check the log they effectively had no backups when they needed them. The sad thing is that they thought they were doing the right thing! (certainly not the “write” thing).
So restoring backed up data is just as important because you don’t want to find you have issues when you are relying on your backups to get you out of a disaster. In theory you should of course perform a complete disaster recovery so you know you can do it when the chips are down. At the very least, you should be running smaller test restores regularly to reduce the chances of issues developing.
Now that is all well and good but what happens if you are using the cloud as a backup? What happens when you are using a large provider to maintain your backups? What happens if you are paying someone else to perform your backups? I would still again say restore, restore, restore. You need to be 100% confident that YOU and you alone can recover your data if needed. That means that if you are not 100% comfortable with a third party doing it for you then you need to take additional steps to ensure you can.
This may mean that you need to do your own data backup if your information is stored in the cloud. Remember, the rule of thumb is 3-2-1.
– 3 copies of the data including the original
– 2 different media types for backed up information
– 1 backup off site
Now if you are using a hosted service, I wouldn’t be waiting until you need to recover information, I’d be testing the whole restore process beforehand. In most cases this means logging a ticket with the service provider to complete the recovery. In most cases, this means that the restore process is now out of your control. You simply have to wait until it is completed. How long will that take? You’ll never know until you asked to have something restore now will you? Again, do it as test before you actually need to restore something and document the process so you know.
You also need to be aware of what can actually be restored. In the case of something like SharePoint Online the only current option is a complete site collection restoration over the top of the existing information as detailed here:
http://blogs.technet.com/b/akieft/archive/2012/01/09/restore-options-in-sharepoint-online.aspx
That means that if all you want restored is a single file then you can’t achieve that without overwriting the complete site collection.
SharePoint Online was plenty of other recovery options such as the recycle bin which alleviates this issue BUT what it highlights is that there are limits on what hosting providers can restore. My question for you is, if you are using a cloud provider do you KNOW what the restoration process is? If you don’t then you should.
To be truly secure with cloud providers you are probably going to have to set up some sort of manual or third party back up of your data and that can be difficult, especially given the volume of data most people are pushing up to the cloud. Most connections won’t allow your to suck everything down to a local hard disk over night, so what do you do?
This is where a hybrid approach makes sense. If you use a desktop application like Outlook for you emails then a local copy of your inbox is stored on your workstation. This at least allows you to work ‘off line’ and get to the data locally. If you only accessed your emails via a web browser then you may not be able to get access to it in the event of a disaster.
Office programs like SkyDrive Pro, SkyDrive, OneNote, etc allow you to retain local copies of your data on multiple devices automatically. These features are more designed for convenience that pure backup, however the certainly provide this functionality as an important side benefit. If you accessed everything only via your browser then you may not have that luxury in the event of a disaster. My questions are, do you know what can be restored if needed from the cloud? Then, how can it be restored? Then, how long will it take?
No matter whether you use hosted providers or on premise equipment you need to be able to restore your data when required. You need to understand how long this will typically take and what you can and can’t restore. You and ONLY you are responsible for the security of your data. Therefore you NEED to take responsibility for it NOW and ensure you can restore it if needed.
You have been warned. Because remember, it isn’t a matter of IF you need to recover data, it is WHEN you need to recover data, because NO ONE is immune from disaster.
Eagle Tech Genius Radio
I was lucky enough to be asked to co-host Eagle Tech Genius Radio with Belinda Luby a few weeks ago. The episode is now available online at:
http://eaglewavesradio.com.au/2013/09/eagle-tech-genius-26-september-2013/
We spoke with a number of very interesting guests so I believe you’ll find plenty of value if you get the time to listen to the show.
CIAOPS October Virtual Technology Group resources
For who missed the CIAOPS Virtual Technology group meeting for October you’ll find the video of Mark O’Shea’s presentation up on the CIAOPS YouTube channel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fwU_RZxTCA
Here are the links mentioned from the parts of the meeting not recorded:
How Microsoft views business today – http://www.geekwire.com/2013/chart-microsofts-business-today-changing/
Money Microsoft makes from android – http://www.zdnet.com/apples-new-iphones-are-fine-but-microsoft-really-profits-from-smartphones-7000020502/
http://www.zdnet.com/microsofts-most-profitable-mobile-operating-system-android-7000015094/
Nexus 5 coming –
Surface 2 –
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/press/2013/sep13/09-23surface2pr.aspx
http://www.microsoft.com/surface/en-au/pre-order
http://www.zdnet.com/microsofts-surface-2-launch-what-to-expect-7000020947/
Amazon Kindle HDX enterprise ready –
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/kindle-fire-hd-and-kindle-fire-hdx-are-enterprise-ready-2013-09-25
Microsoft Partner summit Sydney 28th 29th Oct –
Stay tuned for registration details on the November meeting.
Backup, backup, backup
This is a community service announcement to EVERYONE out there who isn’t backing up their technology. Why I am going over something as basic as backup? Again? Because I have again been called into assist recover someone’s machine that wouldn’t boot (even though I haven’t worked with hardware for years). Of course, no backups where available and “everything” on the machine was vital!
In most cases it would probably be easier to walk away from these types of jobs but sometimes relationships overwrite logic. Of course the machine in question came with no further information to assist in the troubleshooting process. Which version of Windows did it run? (Vista Home Premium as it turned out), where is the data that needs to recovered? (on the desktop as it turned out) and so on.
What most non IT people fail to realize is that recovering from these situations is not straight forward and can take a lot of time. In this case, I took a backup image of the machine before commencing work. I then had to troubleshoot non booting issues. Then I had to locate and create suitable Windows boot DVDs to allow recovery. Finally I had to repair the problem so the system could boot. I also had to locate the gigabytes and gigabytes of ‘important’ information and copy it onto an external USB disk, just in case the laptop had further problems during its return transit.
All in all I probably spent about 8+ hours in total recovering the laptop and backing up the information. The user was very pleased about get their information back and they have been sternly warned that this is the one and only time they get a free pass on this. Their question to me is ‘how do I backup?’ and you know what I don’t know how best to answer that.
I appreciate that there are myriad of ways to backup but if I am being asked about ‘how to backup’ is there any real chance that a user is going to be able to install and configure something successfully? Probably not. So the best bet is either probably just to copy the desired files to a USB disk (which I suggested here) or install some sort of cloud based backup service. But again here the choice becomes complex for users. Which one? How much does it cost? How can I get my data back? See what I mean?
So yes backup is critical for any digital system but you know what? If you don’t know how to backup yourself then you need to find someone to help. This is not unlike taking your car to a mechanic, unfortunately I don’t think technology has gotten any simpler for most people even when it comes to something as essential as backup.
Best posts from October
Here’s a sample of the best posts from previous October’s:
2012
Configuring PowerShell Access in Office 365
Information about SkyDrive Pro
2011
2010
Your Office 365 Business model
Office Web Apps and SBS 7 (aka 2011)
2009
Search Server Express on SBS 2008
2008
Don’t check emails, process emails
2007
Lessons learnt from recent SharePoint crash
They only want email
I still find it hard to believe that there are people out there who believe Microsoft is going to bring Small Business Server (SBS) back. They seem to think that SBS was this massive revenue source for Microsoft when the reality is it was an ever diminishing product that was becoming harder and harder for Microsoft to engineer and support.
However, that doesn’t temper the vitriol that these resellers sprout forth about how Microsoft has screwed them, their business and their customers. I understand where you are coming from, I really do. SBS was a great product but the decision to retire it was a business decision. SBS was Microsoft’s product and they are entitled to make that decision because they are responsible to their shareholders first. (Underpinning your business on a single product from another business also doesn’t make much sense to me either I’ll also say.)
That still doesn’t seem to console these people, who I believe are not only displaced from reality but are running scared of the changes happening in the IT space. Why? Well, when you dig a bit deeper into the demands they make, what they are really seeking is an on premise mail server. The major reason they cite is that their clients ‘only want email’. Although most pine for the return of SBS they deride Companyweb (i.e. SharePoint) and many other features that made SBS what it was. So it is all about an on premise mail server for most.
You know what? I have come to believe the real reason is NOT that their customers ‘only want email’ it is because these resellers don’t have the skills to do anything but email! That’s right, now that SBS has left the scene, they are petrified that they might actually have to improve their skills and justify what they charge. They are scared that they might actually have to start learning something new. They are scared that they might not be up to that challenge. It is far easier to stay in a nice familiar world where technology doesn’t change than face the reality that change is what makes the technology industry such an interesting and profitable place to be. Most of these people I’ll bet moved into their own business with skills transferred from working for someone else. Problem is, now the technology world has changed and those original skills are in decline and it is time to learn new ones, but guess what? They can’t.
I’d like someone to explain to me how you can add value to ‘basic email’ services? I can understand the added value implementing something like eDiscovery, Legal Hold, and so on that comes with something like Office 365 but how do you add value with supporting merely sending and receiving emails? The only way I can see you make revenue after setting these things up is maintaining them, but how can that compete with web based email services from people like Microsoft and Google? How can that even compete in the long run with free web based email services?
If your game plan in technology is mere maintenance and you don’t have the scale then you are a small player in a race to the bottom when it comes to price. Please explain to me how this makes business sense? You are going to lose and yet these people still seem to believe that supporting ‘basic email’ services is a business? Really?
The other problem with the statement ‘my clients only want email’ is that I don’t know one business I deal with ANYWHERE that only wants JUST email. They need a range of technology tools to solve business pain points. To me the statement ‘my clients only want email’ rings of resellers who aren’t proactive with their clients, who are simply selling technology rather than business solutions and who isn’t engaged with the clients to understand what opportunities there maybe in the future. And you know what? Sooner or later those clients have a change of management, grow or shrink in size, get taken over or merge with another business and things change. When that happens, they turn to their incumbent reseller for technology advice and then what? A reseller only skilled at ‘doing email’ just doesn’t cut it anymore so the customer chooses someone else in a blink of an eye.
It is sad that so many technology resellers consider themselves so ‘advanced’ with technology because they waste their time installing some beta software when in fact they have become the main frame guys of the modern era, who simply want the status quo maintained because they are too scared or don’t have the skills to improve their qualifications with new products. They bemoan the reality of their business model becoming a commodity but fail to do anything to expand beyond services they have always provided.
Resellers that say ‘my clients simply want email’ signals to me that it is not in fact their clients that want this, the fact is that the reseller probably does not have any skills beyond this. Worse still, they are also not prepared to grow beyond this limitation. That is why they spend so much time lashing out at Microsoft, hosted email services and other technology solutions. Far more would be achieved, in my opinion, if they took that energy and directed it to up skilling and facing the business reality that is the current technology market.
Google Plus gets big
In part 6 of my recent series on posts on social media in business I noted that Google Plus is one network that you can’t ignore.
The above graphic (which I found on Google Plus) demonstrates the reach that Google Plus has achieved. If you believe this then it has a similar reach to Facebook, which is saying something.
Clearly there is big difference between raw and active users when it comes to business benefits, yet the numbers alone indicate that, as I mentioned in my previous post, it is not a service you should be ignoring.
Social Media and your business–Part 7
Social Media and your business – Part 1
Social Media and your business – Part 2
Social Media and your business – Part 3
Social Media and your business – Part 4
Social Media and your business – Part 5
Social Media and your business – Part 6
So far this series has spoken about the different social media tools that are available, how they work and where they potentially integrate into a business. In the last part of the series I’ll look at the strategies that you should go about applying social media in your business and then round off with some conclusions.
The first point to remember is that social media does not replace the need for a web site or any of your existing online marketing. It is designed to supplement and enhance these. Your web site is still typically the central place that you market your business. It tells prospects about how you can help them specifically. Think of it like a digital brochure.
Before you dive head long into social media stop and ask yourself what you are trying to achieve? In short, determine your goals. What do you want social media to achieve for your business? Do you want it to generate more sales? Better customer service? Or improved exposure for your business? If you don’t know what you are seeking to achieve how will you ever achieve it? Thus, the most important step in the process of utilizing social media for your business is to define you goals up front.
The secret to successful social media (and with most other things in business) is consistency. Once you start using social media you must continue to use it on a regular basis. Nothing looks worse than something that hasn’t been used for months. I’m sure you’ve seen blogs and Twitter accounts that haven’t been updated for months and months. Nothing looks worse does it? This means you need to incorporate your social media strategy into your daily businesses processes. Determine how often you can post things to your blog, Twitter, Facebook, etc. and then ensure you do that. Consistency is the key to success.
Just as importantly for business success is to measure the results of social media. Most of the platforms (especially YouTube) provide inbuilt metrics. If not then there are plenty of third party tools out there that you can use to measure the success and impact of what you are doing. As they say, if you can’t measure it then perhaps you should not be doing it. Track what works and what doesn’t, then adjust and improve what does. Remember, social media is not something that you can generally set and forget, you’ll need to adjust it over time.
The final piece of advice that I’ll provide in this series before signing off comes from Seth Godin and I think it is very important that you heed what he says in this video about social media.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0h0LlCu8Ks
I hope that you have received benefit from this series of blog posts on social media in business I have created. I’d encourage you to connect with me via all the services that I have mentioned here. Most of these you’ll find on my web site (www.ciaops.com) in the bottom left of the home page. Alternatively, you can always send me a good ‘ole email (director@ciaops.com) as well.
There is so much more information, strategy and tactics I am able to share about social media in business and I hope to do that either upcoming blog posts, however if you’d like to speak with me directly about social media in your business or perhaps like me to present to a group of interested people, again just contact me.
As always, thanks for taking the time to read what I write and I look forward to seeing your business out there in social media-verse generating success.
CIAOPS 