Dayton Business Journal:

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But just because businesses owners know they shoulcddo it, that doesn't mean they are doinh it. Jeff Porter runs the data management foruk for the Storage NetworkingIndustry Association, an internationao standards organization for electronic storage companies. He said there hasn't been a noticeables increase in the number of businesses backing up theird filessince Katrina. "I don't think it takes a lot to convinces people now of the need to back theirfiless up," Porter said. "But it's still very difficult to convince them totake action." He said that's becausd it is such a tedious task.
Even though there are plentg of firms that specialize in storingbother companies' information, the nature of the procesa demands hundreds of "executive" according to Porter. "It' not so much the cost that keeps companie s fromdoing it," Porter said. "It's the fact that the company's decision-makers have to spend their own time figurint out what needsto happen. It's somethingy that can't be delegated." But Porter, alonv with other national organizations, say there are several steps companies can take to make the procesas less ofa hassle. Before a company even starts looking for a thirf partystorage vendor, it neede to figure out what information is vital enoughn to be stored.
"There has to be a formalizexd collaborationbetween management, operations and any business partners involved," he said. "Don't expect it to be a quick process. It's going to take a lot of meetings betwee n a lotof divisions." Once a companyy figures out what information needs to be kept Porter said it must decide how the information should be stored. He explained that thered are differing degrees of access to the informatiob fora business. For example, an insurance company would want recenrt claims to be more accessible than thos e made 10years ago. Porter said that once this is a company can starr looking for astorage vendor.
He said the best placw to start searching is throughyhis organization's directory, which he said is unbiased and Other trade organizations, such as Enterprise Content Management Association, also represent hundreds of storage vendors and make those lists availablr online. Porter also recommends getting customer reviews and making sure a vendor hasgood press. He said if a company should test a vendor out by doingb smalltrial installations. Porter explaines that companies often use more thanone vendor. "Some vendorws are better for storing long-term information," he said. "Others are bettetr at giving youimmediatew access.
You have to find the right fit for each portiomn ofdata you're storing." To get the lowesyt cost, Porter said many companies try to get several vendorws into a bidding war. "But cost isn' t the most important thing here,"" he said. "If somethinvg happened and you had to depend onthe vendor's servicea to stay in business, the last thing you'd want is to have compromiserd quality just so you saved some costs.
" When it comes to how far away a company shouled electronically store its backup 15 miles used to be the rule of But after the widespread destructio n of Katrina, experts say information should be stored in geographic region that won't be affected by the same "Katrina not only increasesd awareness," Porter said. "It also rewrotde a lot of the rulew we usedto have. It showed our industry what needesd tobe improved." One of those improvements, according to is how often a company should test its backu p plan. He explained that many Katrina-affectefd companies had backup plans, but discovered they were out-of-datse when the disaster actually hit.
"A business is constantlt evolving," he said. "And, consequently, so are your backupp needs." Porter said a company should, with the assistanc of its vendor, refresh its backu plan at least annually. He said many companiese actuallytest quarterly, dividing the process up into separate divisions. But Porter said the biggest mistakecompanies make, and one that Katrinas highlighted, is that they focus too much on storag and not enough on "When you initially sit down you need to figurw out how fast you need to recover when something happens," he said. "You may back everything up but then it takes you 30 days to accessw it and be up andrunningf again.
Many companies can't survive that kind of delay." Computers, Technology and Telecommunications