By Carbonite Guest Blog

As an IT solutions and services provider, chances are you’ve seen some of the many problems that can arise when small businesses fail to back up their mission-critical data to the cloud. Many small businesses are perfectly content to back up data to external hard drives stored on premises–that is, until disaster strikes and they lose the important information they need to stay in business.

Disaster comes in all sizes–from natural disasters like floods, fires and hurricanes to human error and computer viruses that can lead to lost data and unplanned downtime. What’s the best way for small businesses to protect their data? The answer is simple: cloud backup, a simple, powerful and affordable solution that gives small businesses the ultimate in peace of mind. 

When it comes to educating current and potential customers about the value of cloud backup, it helps to have some real-world examples. Here’s a look at four small businesses that are having success with cloud backup today:

1. Winn Brown Law Firm

Attorney Winn Davis Brown started thinking seriously about disaster recovery and cloud backup when it occurred to him that backing up his PC files manually just a few times a year is not a best practice. To make matters worse, he was backing up to an external hard drive located on premises. That realization led to concerns about what might happen if a natural disaster hit his office.

The Winn Brown Law Firm now uses cloud backup take protect files seamlessly, automatically and continuously in the background. “I never backed up my PC data anywhere near as often as I should have,” Brown says. “Now I don’t have to worry about it.”

2. Doba Accounting

Derrick Doba, a Certified Public Accountant, was in for a big surprise when his wife’s laptop got stolen. Fortunately, Doba and his wife used cloud backup and were able to retrieve all the data they lost that day and load it onto a different computer. But they also uncovered something else: shirtless pictures of the unkempt criminal who made off with the laptop!

Using evidence compiled from Carbonite’s cloud-based backup service, police were able to reopen the case. While the criminal was never captured, the pictures led to plenty of social media and local news coverage. Within days, the stolen laptop was anonymously returned.

3. Lesron Insurance

Like many people who work for small businesses, Sandy Black wears many hats. Not only is she a broker in the four-person office of the Lesron Insurance Agency, she’s also in charge of data storage and IT administration.

The company used to back up its files to tape drives that were housed on premises, but that was cumbersome, time-consuming and risky. That’s why Black decided to try something new.

“I was used to backup being such a pain, [but cloud backup] made it so super-easy that I couldn’t believe it,” she says. “We all feel more secure now.”

4. Waunakee Remodeling
When Lee Itson took over IT at Waunakee Remodeling, the company was backing up business-critical files to disk. He quickly realized that it was a frustrating manual process that didn’t always work properly.

That’s when he started searching for a cloud backup vendor that was affordable and easy to use. Today, Waunakee Remodeling uses Carbonite’s cloud service to automatically back up data from Microsoft Exchange and Microsoft SQL Server databases and much more.

John Durant is Director of Channel Sales at Carbonite, a provider of powerful yet simple cloud and hybrid backup solutions for small to midsize businesses. Learn about the benefits of partnering with Carbonite today. Guest blogs such as this one are published monthly and are part of Talkin’ Cloud’s annual platinum sponsorship