Many recent studies have revealed there is a worrying lack of regular testing of the viability of backups, and there are good reasons for that. Finding time to run tests without disrupting day-to-day usage seems an impossible task, which is why many organisations rely on a ‘fingers-crossed it will work’ strategy. Risky – but frighteningly common.

There’s no question about it; businesses must plan for the worst. Human and mechanical disasters are inevitable and can cause all sorts of mayhem unless you are prepared with a disaster recovery plan.

Here’s a reality check for you: don’t be fooled by everything you read during this Cloud Computing hype. It’s like Chinese whispers in the technology world. The Cloud is still one of those popular buzz words somebody created to explain a whole world of complex IT infrastructure. It is really just a metaphor for the internet, a fuzzy grey area that people cannot entirely explain easily yet. It goes back to the days of flowcharts and presentations that would represent the gigantic server-farm infrastructure of the Internet as nothing but a puffy, white cumulonimbus cloud, accepting connections and doling out information as it floats.