Backups and recovery planning for Front Range businesses

Backup and disaster recovery

We back up servers, important workstations and Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace data to encrypted storage outside the region, with versioned or immutable copies that ransomware can't touch. Restores are tested on a schedule, because a backup you haven't restored from is only a theory.

We also help you write a practical recovery plan covering what gets restored first, who decides, and how people keep working if the office is lost to fire, flood, a burst pipe in a cold snap, or a cyberattack. The Marshall Fire showed how quickly a whole neighborhood can disappear; the plan should assume that kind of loss is possible. You keep a written copy, and we revisit it whenever you add a site, a major system or a new contract with recovery requirements of its own.

Wildfire changed the planning assumptions

For years, Front Range businesses treated wildfire as a mountain problem. The Marshall Fire ended that idea in December 2021, when wind-driven flames swept through suburban neighborhoods in Superior and Louisville. In April 2024, Xcel Energy cut power to tens of thousands of customers along the foothills during a high-wind event to reduce fire risk, showing that the response to fire danger can disrupt business too.

Planning here should assume the office could be unreachable for days, or without power while nothing is actually burning. That means backups stored outside the state, critical systems in the cloud where practical, and staff able to work from home or another location. For businesses with equipment that must stay running, we look at battery backup for network gear and graceful shutdown of servers when utility power fails.

Hail, snow and pipes

The Denver metro sits in one of the most hail-prone areas in the country, and severe storms regularly damage roofs and skylights, letting water reach equipment below. Heavy spring snowstorms close roads and occasionally collapse roofs on older commercial buildings. Sudden cold snaps freeze and burst pipes in unheated spaces. Any of these can ruin a server closet without touching the rest of the building.

We recommend keeping equipment off the floor, away from exterior walls and roof drains, and out of rooms directly under skylights. Water sensors in server closets can alert someone before damage spreads. Most importantly, every critical system has an off-site copy, versioned so you can restore to a point before the problem, and tested so you know how long recovery takes.

Ransomware, the cloud and proving recovery

Ransomware remains the most likely disaster for a small Colorado business, and attackers now target backups first. Copies are kept immutable for a defined period where possible, backup systems use separate credentials with MFA, and Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace data is backed up independently of the platform. For cannabis operators, surveillance footage retention is often handled separately, and we plan for it explicitly.

Every backup gets tested on a schedule: files and mailboxes regularly, whole systems periodically. Test results are documented, which helps with cyber insurance renewals and with contracts that specify recovery requirements. The written plan names what comes back first, who decides, and how staff stay in touch if email is down. We revisit it yearly and whenever you add a site or major system.