More and more smaller businesses are backing up their data online. It's automatic, off-site, and now it's affordable. bMighty asked online backup expert Sam Gutmann what smaller businesses should look for in an online backup service

Sam Gutmann, CEO of Intronis Technologies, equates backing up online to an insurance policy for smaller businesses. And for those smaller businesses that rely on their data to function, he has a point. CDs, DVDs, or tapes are all at the mercy of human error — whether it's leaving the material on site or forgetting to do the backup. Online backup is done automatically and the data is never housed in the same location as the company, making this a no-brainer for most businesses. But the key for smaller companies is that it's also affordable. bMighty talked with Gutmann about the virtues of online backup, what smaller businesses need to know, and what are the features they should look for when choosing a service.

Sam Gutmann

bMighty: What's wrong with the way smaller businesses back up their data?
Sam Gutmann: Most small and midsize businesses don't back up at all or effectively, if they do. They use CDs or DVDs, a manual process that gets done every once in a while. Some use tapes, but in an ideal scenario, they will use 10 tapes to do a weekly backup. It's costly and it's a manual process. The big downfall of all of these is someone has to take it off-site, and that rarely happens. So if the building burns down, [that backup] doesn't help. Or sometimes they put back up tapes in their bags and forget about them. And if that gets stolen, you're in trouble because the data is unencrypted so it's out there.

Q&A With Sam Gutmann: Back Up Online, or How to Save Your Smaller Business | Hardware & Software | bMighty.com