We keep backups available on our network servers for 15 days and then archive them to tapes and keep it there for 30 days. This helps to find a way to get to the older data.

Mirroring will help you to have a high-availability solution or a point-in time copy of the database.

If you keep log shipping as a standby, keep it at a latency of around 1 hour or so to be able to bring any data that got deleted accidentally and if you can setup log shipping in stand by modes, it can serve as a host for reporting as well.

coming back to backups, try to use compression .2008 R2 offers it even in standard edition. You can also use 3rd party tools to backup large database. By large, I mean more than 80 or 100 GBs so that backup and restore times are less. Also, for your organisation be clear on two points always:

Maximum time frame during which data loss can be tolerable.

Maximum time frame during which the business can wait before the server can be built again.

These are some points which I could think as of now. Wait for some experts to pitch in their ideas. Do a lot of studying. Observe what people have done in their environments. What a person does in his company may or may not apply to you but just learn his thought process- what factors were responsible for him to take those decision. This will improve your thought process and then make you prepared to talk to your boss. I am sure he will appreciate your homework.

Thanks

Chandan