Amongst some of the more important rules with which companies have to comply are those pertaining to the retention, long-term storage and easy recovery of data.
 
Data in the corporate database is easy to back up and archive as the original is always held in one location and constantly administered, says Michael Law, sales and marketing director at Attix5.

Other data, such as the files on a laptop or e-mails sent and received while on the road are not as easily handled. In fact, data created and modified remotely is a serious problem when it comes to storing and the eventual retrieval of information.

A vast wealth of intellectual property and company proprietary information in the form of data, leaves the office and goes home at night, and even travels extensively. Whilst out of the office, this data is exposed to risk in terms of loss. Anyone who has lost a notebook will attest to the fact that the replacement of the hardware is relatively painless, whilst the loss of the data can have disastrous consequences.
 
Relying on people to back up their own data every day is not an advisable solution because we are all liable to forget or get caught up in something and put off backing up for another day. And then we forget about it completely until something goes wrong or an attorney wants a copy of a file or e-mail we have lost.

A shared folder backup solution is not an option as the data in shared folders is unencrypted and can be accessed by anyone on the network. In addition, if there is a disaster at the site, the backed up data is lost.
 
Automated, online backup is the optimal solution for these cases. Instead of relying on a person to remember to copy his or her files to a server, new files and e-mails can be automatically and transparently backed up whenever the person is online (in this case, online can mean on the Internet or on a business network).

Online backups do not need to ask permission or wait until the user has time, but run quietly in the background without disturbing anyone. An additional advantage of an automated solution is that it is free of human interference and therefore free from human error.
 
Given the cost of bandwidth, many companies do not use the Internet (such as an ADSL line) as their route for backups. Most use the corporate LAN and backup information as soon as the relevant users log in, making use of the Internet when the employee is out of the office for some time.
 
But there is more to automated backups than simply copying data over a LAN or WAN to a server or to a remote server via the Internet. To meet the most demanding compliance rules, Law advises that any such solutions also include the ability to check the integrity of the data as well as encrypt information as it is transferred and while it is stored.
 
Making sure there are no glitches in the transfer process simply ensures that the correct data is saved and there wont be nasty surprises when trying to restore it. In addition, the use of encryption ensures that only authorised people have access to the information.
 
Automated back-ups as described above are the optimal solution for mobile workers, managers and directors of all businesses; from small, through mid-sized, to large organisations, adds Law. By encrypting data and allowing users to access it securely as and when needed companies will not only be protecting themselves and their employees from losing what could turn out to be critical data, they will also be in compliance with current and forthcoming corporate governance legislation.