Backup and disaster recovery for the Northern Beaches & North Shore.
We design, run and test backups for 5 to 30-staff businesses. Microsoft 365, file servers, line-of-business apps and the data your operation depends on, backed up properly, stored offsite, restored on schedule, and documented in a way your cyber insurer wants to see.
Most small businesses have a backup. Few have one that works.
Both common failure modes look fine right up until the day they don’t. The first restore should never be in an actual emergency.
USB and NAS-only
Fine for hardware failure, useless against ransomware, which encrypts the NAS too.
The Microsoft 365 myth
Microsoft replicates data, but doesn’t protect you from deletion or ransomware encrypted into SharePoint.
Never tested
Most backups we inherit have never been restored. We close that gap in the first 30 days.
Single copy
One backup is no backup. The 3-2-1 rule is the bar cyber insurers expect, not enterprise paranoia.
Designed, tested and documented for your insurer.
Backup is one of the things we do directly, with the 3-2-1 rule applied properly and results that go in your broker pack.
Backup architecture
The right tool stack for your data: Microsoft 365, file servers, line-of-business apps and endpoint laptops.
Microsoft 365 backup
Third-party backup of Exchange, SharePoint, OneDrive and Teams against deletion and ransomware.
Tested restores
Monthly automated restore tests on a sample, quarterly full restores of critical systems.
DR runbook
A documented one-pager: what’s down, who calls who, the priorities, the recovery time. Tested quarterly.
Insurance evidence
Backup design, retention, last test result and segmentation, packaged for your broker at renewal.
Ransomware response
A documented playbook plus tested, offsite, immutable copies. A one-day incident, not a two-week catastrophe.
Local, hands-on, and straight with you.
Local team
Based in Warriewood, with regular onsite visits across the Northern Beaches and Lower North Shore.
5 to 30 staff is our sweet spot
We know the constraints, the budgets and the realities of a business your size.
Plain English, not ticket-shuffling
First call, a real person, no offshore helpdesk reading a script.
Scope agreed first
Fixed-fee where we can, with clear scope and pricing before work begins.
Onsite across the Northern Beaches & Lower North Shore.
Based in Warriewood. Onsite across the Northern Beaches and Lower North Shore, with remote support when onsite isn’t needed. We focus on doing this corner of Sydney really well.
Backup and disaster recovery, answered.
Doesn’t Microsoft 365 already back up our data?
Not in the way you think. Microsoft replicates data across data centres for resilience, that protects against Microsoft losing your data. It does not protect you from accidental deletion (covered for ~30 days then gone), malicious deletion by a staff member or admin, or ransomware that encrypts files inside SharePoint. Microsoft’s own service description explicitly states that customer data backup is a customer responsibility. We use third-party backup tools (Veeam, Barracuda, AvePoint) that cover the gap.
How much does backup for a 10-person business cost?
Microsoft 365 backup for 10 users is typically $15–$30 per user per month all-in (tooling + management + storage). For businesses with on-premises servers, the cost adds the on-prem backup software and storage, roughly $1,500–$4,000 once-off plus ongoing storage. Most clients pay less for proper backup than they pay for the unproductive hour after a near-miss.
How quickly can you restore after ransomware?
Depends on what was hit and how the backup is structured. With offsite immutable backup + tested restore + a documented runbook, most 5–30-staff businesses can be back to working state in 8–48 hours, staff productive again, even if some clean-up continues for a week. Without that setup, ransomware recovery often runs two to three weeks plus a serious cyber-insurance claim.
Do you test the backups, or do we have to?
We do. Monthly automated restore tests on a sample, quarterly full restores of critical systems. The test results go into your cyber-insurance evidence pack at renewal time. Most small businesses we onboard have a backup that’s never been tested, that’s the gap we close in the first 30 days.
What’s the difference between backup and disaster recovery?
Backup is the data, copies you can restore from. Disaster recovery is the plan, what to do, in what order, when something goes wrong. Both matter. A backup with no DR plan is a data file no one knows how to use under pressure. A DR plan with no backup is a wishful diagram. We do both as one piece of work.
Will you help with the cyber-insurance renewal questionnaire?
Yes, included in every managed retainer. Insurers ask the same 10–15 technical questions every year. We package the answers (with evidence, last backup test result, retention policy, RTO/RPO targets) into a broker-ready report. No more scrambling for screenshots two days before renewal.
Can you help us recover data from a backup we already have?
Often, yes, even when it’s a backup we didn’t set up. Most modern backup tools can be restored to a new environment with the right credentials and metadata. If you’ve inherited an old backup or are switching IT providers, we can usually get the data out and into your new setup. We’ve done this enough times to know which corners to look in.
Plain language. Straight answers.
Book a 15-minute IT chat.
We’ll talk through what you’ve got, where the gaps are, and what proper protection costs for a business your size.