Are you struggling to figure out how to get your data backed up for your business? You’ve probably heard of two options — managed backup vs. unmanaged small business online backup. So what’s the difference between these two, and why does it matter to your company?

Managed Backup

Managed backup simply offers an outside staff who will configure your initial backup, monitor all subsequent backups and their processes to make sure that your data is backed up on a regular basis, and assist in the event of a disaster when the data needs to be recovered and restored. An additional bonus for managed backup is that, should a backup fail to process (such as with a read/write error), you will be alerted ahead of time, and you will get assistance in attempting to correct backup failures and errors.

Unmanaged Backup

Unmanaged backup is completely “do it yourself” backup that comes at a much cheaper price than managed backup. You or your in-house personnel would be responsible for everything mentioned above — figuring out how to set up the first backup, deciding on a plan for regular backups, handle restoration and recovery in the event of a disaster, and handling any errors or upload failures.

If you already have an in-house IT service, then unmanaged backup may work just fine for your company. However, the added expense of a managed online business backup service can give you peace of mind in the event of a disaster. Where you save money with unmanaged backup, you may be spending in additional staff.

Ultimately, the difference comes down to how you view your bottom line. If you want the extra expense and assistance for help with a remote backup solution, then spare yourself the planning and get managed backup services at the higher cost. If you have a staff in place that can be spared to do the managing for you, then go with the cheaper, unmanaged backup solution.