While some business owners slightly grudge paying for insurance, the value of cover suddenly becomes very clear when something goes wrong and you need to call on your policy provider for support. In these moments, having quick access to your business insurance documents is essential to help process your claim quickly and get the support you need.
Your business likely already has a huge range of important internal documents stored locally. However, with the surge in popularity of cloud storage solutions, there is an increasing trend for companies to back-up sensitive data remotely for added protection – including important insurance documentation.
When you consider the most prevalent threats that affect businesses, they include theft, break-ins, fires and unauthorized network access by cybercriminals, and the fact that each of these can potentially result in the loss, damage or theft of local copies, it makes good sense to ensure you have remote back-ups of your most important files.
Types of remote back-up
It’s possible to take back-ups of data in many formats including printed copies, using external hard drives, copying files to memory stick or burning documents to DVD – however, none offers the same level of security as cloud storage.
Backing-up your files to remote cloud storage negates the risk of loss or damage to local copies while also providing unrivaled security and options for tertiary facsimiles to be made remotely. Moreover, using all-in-one gateway hardware systems like those provided by Check Point 1550 will protect your data in transfer and stop unwarranted access by hackers, giving you complete peace of mind through the whole process.
How to integrate your local system with cloud storage
In recent years, the cloud computing industry has seen explosive growth with a vast range of third-party providers now offering an equally huge range of remote storage solutions. Consequently, access and integration with cloud services is now easier than ever – meaning your biggest decision will be who to partner with, rather than how.
When choosing your cloud provider, you should consider the following key requirements based on the specific needs of your business:
Multi-device access: do you want your files to be accessible everywhere e.g. including mobile devices, laptops, tablets, etc?
Editing capabilities: you will likely want to be able to access and edit files on the move – check your service provider supports this function.
Syncing in real-time: the majority of modern cloud solutions now sync local files with remote copies automatically – but check to make sure otherwise you’ll need to manually upload documents after making changes.
Capabilities for file-sharing: does your remote server allow for the distribution of files with other people? This could prove very important for sharing your insurance documents after an incident.
Automatic rollback: while less common, automatic rollback allows you to go back to a previously saved version of a file, should something go tremendously wrong.
Final steps
As mentioned, integration with most cloud storage solutions these days is very simple – normally just a case of allowing the software access to your network and local files. Depending on your service’s automatic back-up facilities, you may also need to stipulate the frequency of back-ups and possibly tinker with some basic security settings regarding file transfer protocols and user access (i.e. how many users can use your cloud server).
In the vast majority of cases, simply sticking with the default configuration will be enough – but, if you’re in any doubt, speak to your IT security expert for further guidance.