Your data should survive hardware failure, accidental deletion and operational disruption
Automated backups that actually run, copies kept away from the original machine, and security measures sized for a real business rather than a brochure.
Most businesses have a backup. Very few have a tested restore.
Ask around and almost everyone says yes, there is a backup. Ask when it last ran, where the copy is kept, and whether anyone has ever restored from it, and the answers get vague.
The common failures are always the same:
- The backup runs to a folder on the same computer holding the original.
- The external drive was unplugged eight months ago and never reconnected.
- Nobody noticed the scheduled job has been failing since a Windows update.
- The copy exists, but restoring it turns out to need a password nobody wrote down.
- It backs up the accounts but not the customisations, formats or configuration.
A backup that has never been restored is a hope, not a plan.
Business Backup Solutions
Services
Automated backups
Backups that run on a schedule without anyone having to remember.
Scheduled backups
Frequency matched to how much work you can afford to lose — for most businesses that means daily at minimum.
Off-site backup
A copy kept away from the machine and the building holding the original.
Backup retention
Multiple restore points, so a problem discovered three weeks late is still recoverable.
Tally data backup
Company data, masters and customisations — not just the data folder.
Server backup
Full server-level backup where a server is in use.
Disaster recovery assistance
Help getting operational again after a failure, not just a file handed back to you.
Backup monitoring
Someone checking that the backups ran, because silent failure is the normal failure mode.
Three copies, two kinds of storage, one somewhere else
It is an old rule and it still holds:
- Three copies of anything that matters — the working copy and two backups.
- Two different storage types, so one failure mode cannot take out both.
- One copy off-site, because fire, theft and flooding do not distinguish between a computer and the backup drive sitting next to it.
Most of the setups we are called in to fix have one copy on one disk in one room. Getting to three-two-one is usually neither expensive nor complicated — it just has to be set up deliberately.
Advanced Security Solutions
Security for a small or mid-sized business is not about exotic threats. It is about the ordinary ones: a shared administrator password, an employee who left six months ago whose login still works, an unpatched server exposed to the internet, a ransomware email opened at the wrong moment.
We address the practical layers.
Categories
Endpoint security
Protection on the desktops and laptops your team actually uses.
Server security
Hardening, patching and access control on servers.
Firewall solutions
Controlling what can reach your network and what cannot.
Access control
Individual accounts, defined roles, and no shared logins.
User permissions
People see what their job needs and not the rest — including within Tally.
Secure remote access
Encrypted connections for staff working outside the office.
Data protection
Controls over where business data can be copied and taken.
Backup security
Backups protected against the same events that threaten the original — including ransomware that deliberately targets backup files.
Network security
Segmentation, secure configuration and monitoring.
Security hardening
Removing defaults, closing unused services, and applying updates on a schedule.
We supply and support hardware firewalls, endpoint and internet security, and full-suite protection for servers and desktops. We deliberately do not list brand names here: the right product depends on what you already run and what the licence renewal looks like, and a name on a page tends to become the answer before anybody has asked the question.
Why backups and security are the same conversation
Modern ransomware looks for backups first. It encrypts network shares, connected external drives and anything reachable from the infected machine — and then demands payment for data you technically still have.
This is why a backup drive left permanently plugged in is not really a backup, and why off-site or otherwise isolated copies matter more than they used to. It is also why security and backup cannot be planned separately.
01Review
What data exists, where it lives, what is currently backed up, and what happens if each system fails.
02Identify the gaps
Usually including a few nobody knew about.
03Design
A backup schedule, retention policy and set of security measures proportionate to the business — not the maximum that could be sold.
04Implement
Set up, configured and documented.
05Test the restore
The step that gets skipped everywhere else. A backup is only proven when data has actually come back from it.
06Monitor
Ongoing checks that the schedule is still running and still succeeding.
Frequently asked questions
How often should backups run?
Ask how much work you could afford to redo. If the answer is “one day”, the backup runs daily. For businesses billing continuously, more often.
Is an external hard disk enough?
It is better than nothing, and it is not enough on its own. It shares the room with the original, it is usually connected (so ransomware reaches it), and disks fail. Use it as one copy of three.
We use cloud storage that syncs automatically. Is that a backup?
Not by itself. Sync propagates deletions and corruption to the copy. Backup means versioned restore points you can go back to.
Does hosting on your infrastructure mean backups are handled?
Infrastructure-level backup is part of the arrangement. The scope and retention are agreed at setup so you know exactly what is covered.
Can you check whether our current backup actually works?
Yes, and it is a good place to start. A restore test tells you more about your position than any amount of discussion.
When did you last test a restore?
If the answer is “never” or “I am not sure”, that is worth half an hour of somebody’s time. We will look at what you have and tell you where it would fail.