A company’s worst nightmare: Fire destroys its computer network and wipes out vital data on customers, accounts and inventory.HWP faced that very scenario this week.The company is taking steps to try to recover as much data as it can, but for now it’s forced to work manually.Disaster recovery experts on the Island say the HWP fire should serve as a wake-up call to local companies to invest in a sound plan for backing up their data and software, so they can be up and running with little pain if disaster strikes.Many local companies still rely on VCR-like magnetic tapes to back up their data and often keep the tapes on site, in safes or other supposedly secure areas.But experts say they should have “layers” of protection and at the very least tapes should be kept off-site.“You can’t really recreate your unique data, accounts, client lists, transaction history,” said Chris McLeod, COO of IT consulting company Decisions Ltd. “That’s the stuff you need to back up - what makes your business money.”Central Filing CEO Jonathan Smith agreed: “Any catastrophic incident such as a fire or flood does drive home the need for companies to examine their own business continuity plans.“This includes having original or copies of business-critical documents off-site with a reputable solutions provider.“Many companies have gone down this route in recent years and are selecting a package of solutions including cloud servers remote from the actual business operations, off-site document and/or tape storage and scanning of documents.”QuoVadis chief marketing officer Stephen Davidson said: “Hurricane warnings tend to stir up interest in data protection. But that interest tends to fade over time and especially in this economy companies may be less inclined to want to invest in a business continuity plan.”There are several options for backing up data:l Data backup tapes, which should be securely stored off site,l Backing up online with to a remote backup site or managed service,l Creating an off-site replica of your systems and data, using virtual servers or managed services, allowing rapid restoration of your operations in an outage.Mr. Davidson continued: “Many local companies use backup tapes, which are relatively inexpensive to implement. The drawback is that many companies don’t properly store their backups, nor test if the process is working. The risk is that tapes may be destroyed or fail, or it may be a slow process to rebuild your systems and reload the backed up data”.Backing up online is a better option for many companies as data can be streamed quickly and is stored remotely.“With the evolution of new ‘virtual’ and ‘cloud’ technologies more companies are able to build replicas of their systems,” Mr. Davidson said. “This means that you have a ‘spare’ copy of your systems, perhaps managed and hosted by a service provider like QuoVadis, that allows you to sync and test your data more frequently. So if your primary systems were to go down you can quickly switch to that replica with minimal loss of business.”QuoVadis has a dedicated data bunker in Hamilton, for off-site backup and retrieval.A company’s file system, database, mail and other data can be automatically and securely backed up to the DataVault, which has a large scale power generator and multiple links into the Belco grid to provide uninterrupted power supply.QuoVadis also offers companies the ability to retrieve tapes in an emergency on a 24x365 basis.Mr McLeod said another good option is simply to backup to hard disk (Network Attached Storage-NAS), which is more cost-effective, robust and faster than cloud or tape backup.The most important thing, he said, is: “Don’t cut corners when it comes to data protection.”Mr Smith said Central Filing offers local companies everything from off-site document, tape and hard drive, and also a tape rotation service.“We go to a business premises and help them meet their disaster/business recovery plans by collecting their computer back up tapes, storing them safely and securely off-site and then returning their tapes to them on a pre-arranged schedule,” Mr. Smith said.Central Filing’s facilities have fire suppression and climate controlled storage, fire-proof filing cabinets, and CCTV in place.“Most of our customers use our services because they choose to outsource not only their storage requirements, but, more importantly, having business critical documents or archives and/or back up computer tapes retained off-site as part of their own business continuity and disaster recovery plans.“Many of our customers are driven to this route by compliance standards they either set here for themselves or are set by parent companies or legislation overseas.“As far as possible, we tailor make the solution to meet the client specifications. Some of our clients have chosen to store business critical Minute Books and other ‘must retain’ documents safely and securely off-site in our facilities that are equipped with fire suppression systems.“We then provide a full range of delivery services if needed and can deliver documents and tapes back to the client within a two-hour time frame if needed.”