Cost Analysis

When choosing a backup system people tend to focus on the cost of data capture, such as a tape drive, tapes and software. The fact is data capture is only the first link in the backup and recovery solution chain. This chain includes removal of data to a secure offsite location, storage of data in a secure facility, and recovery of current and historical data. Each link in the chain has its own associated risks, costs, and value. A weakness in any link could be fatal to any data-driven business.

• Costs along the backup and recovery value chain
  
  Analyze your costs along the entire chain (capture, removal, storage, and recovery). While some are obvious, many costs are easily overlooked:
  
  
• Data Capture
  tapes, software, tape/zip drives , upgrades, and associated training costs
  connections for file managers and databases
  monthly hardware maintenance fees
  
  
• Move to a secure offsite location
  tapes for offsite rotations
  employee time to swap out and label tapes
  tape pickup and delivery costs
  
  
• Storage
  transportation to facility
  
  
• Recovery
  employee's time to be trained for backup
  service calls for repairs, tape jams, restores and other software problems
  employee's time to monitor and perform recoveries
  employee's downtime while waiting for information to be recovered
  lost business revenues or goodwill because of data loss
  
  
• Other factors to consider when calculating the value of lost data
  During recovery of data you experience an immediate loss in office productivity. Employees devote time to recreate the information in lost data, and have to stop work on current projects to do so.
  
• Client confidence:
  The loss of data from your customer database may force you to contact your customers. This can cause a loss of customer confidence or good will. And losing customers is a large cost associated with backup failure and data loss.