Manufacturing, distribution and service companies have the widest range of business processes and types of business data to protect - sales, accounting, projects, drawings, stock and purchasing, payroll etc.
With few exceptions today, all data used in these functions is processed and stored on computers, as companies drive towards increasing efficiency and increasing competitiveness. But a simple hard-disk failure (all disks fail eventually) can crash a key system, preventing invoicing at the end of the month. A broken system for processing orders can mean lost sales, unhappy customers or in-effective sales teams. A loss of plans and drawings can have damaging long term implications.
It is for these reasons that the manager of a traditional business values this data and seeks a hassle-free, secure and reliable way of protecting it. They understand that business continuity is vital - manufacturing cannot stop, and projects cannot be delayed. So, in the event of a disaster - the recovery process must be quick and painless.
Traditional tape based solutions are expensive and messy - and no one is really sure what is being backed up. It is often down to the office admin or even the general manager / owner to take the tapes home at night. The process of recovering from tapes is slow and disruptive.