Within Zoho CRM Setup page under the section "Data Administration", there is an option called "Data Backup". This both prompts concern from customers as well as questions. The concern is "doesn't Zoho Backup our data". The answer is yes. If you are using a .eu version of Zoho CRM the prime data centre is Utrecht and there is a backup in Dublin. So what is this option for?
When you move to a paid edition of Zoho CRM, you are entitled to two free "data backups" a month. Additional backups can be done, but at additional cost. We prefer to position this as two free exports of data a month. As mentioned above, Zoho are backing your data up. There are some customers who would like to have a physical copy of their data and this is what this option is for. At a set period as setup in the Data Backup section, Zoho will email the Super User of the Zoho CRM Account with an email subject: "Zoho CRM Notification - Zoho Data Backup Completed". Contained within the email is a link to Download your data.
So why do you need it if Zoho backs your data up? As mentioned above, some companies want to have a physical copy of their data that they can download and then store in a safe location outside of the Zoho network.
What if I don't want this email every two weeks? We enable it by default on all customers CRM. It can be disabled if you require, but our suggestion is to place an email rule to divert the email to a specific folder. That way if you want to action a download you can, or you can just ignore it. We would suggest though that you periodically do download your data but that frequency would be set by your internal policies - use a Task to remind yourself.
The download link does expire for security reasons.
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Published: April 2020