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14 Jan Ensuring Business Continuity with Backups
Even for the most robust businesses, a disaster could occur at any time. After all, between attacks and errors, and other factors such as weather and power outages, it can be impossible to predict when disaster could be around the corner. As with any disaster, preparation is vital to ensure that you can come out of the other end with strength. This can be done via reliable backups.
Backing up your data and devices can go a long way as part of your disaster recovery preparation. Having a way to access your most important data will ensure that you can get your business back up and running quickly. But there’s a lot to consider when backing up your data.
In this article, we’re going to go over why you should back up your data and device, as well as how to ensure that your business has an effective backup strategy. We’ll also take a look at what to look for when choosing a backup provider, so you’re not left in the dark at any point of the process.
The Importance of Data and Device Backup
Disaster could always be lurking around the corner. Even if you’re well protected against cyber threats and have security strategies, there is no avoiding outages or environmental disasters if they do happen. Simply put, it’s important to make sure that you’re always prepared for the worst — and backups are the easiest way to do this.
Backups will protect your data and prevent data loss, meaning that you can be at peace of mind that no matter what — whether it be a hard drive failure, a cyber attack, or even a power outage — you’ll have access to your most important files to be able to maintain business continuity and avoid a major catastrophe.
Also, backups mean that you don’t need to spend as much time and money recreating lost files or utilising data recovery services to be able to recover your data in the long run, and are generally very cost-effective in comparison.
Risks of Data Loss
Data loss can cause lots of issues for your business in the long run. Even losing some of your sensitive data can cause a headache, let alone losing lots of your data without a backup or a data recovery strategy.
Here are some of the risks:
- Loss of Important Files: Important reports, customer data, intellectual property, and so much more can become easily compromised.
- Financial Loss: You can lose lots of money through data loss, between resources needing to be allocated to replacing said data, and replacing lost hardware and software. On top of this, you’ll lose revenue due to downtime.
- Damage to Reputation: A data breach can cause major damage to your company’s reputation — making you look as though you can’t protect your assets and customers in the long term, leading to less trust in your business.
Guide to Backup
3 – 2 -1 Rule
One of the most important rules and frameworks to use when considering backups is the 3-2-1 rule. It’s a robust solution and ensures that your backup strategy is thorough and considers different kinds of errors.
The 3-2-1 refers to:
- 3 Copies of Your Data: This means your production data, and then two backup copies.
- 2 Different Media: Essentially, this means using two different types of backup, for example, cloud, disk, or tape.
- 1 Copy Off-Site: This makes sure that there is a copy of your data off-site to access in case your on-site data becomes completely compromised.
By following this framework, you can ensure that there are enough copies of your data so that one is always accessible if you need it. This is the best way to backup your data, because of the contingent nature of the strategy.
Backup Frequency
Making sure to backup your data frequently is vital, as having a more up-to-date backup will mean your data is more accurate and that more of it is backed up. Choosing the right backup frequency is finding the balance between the most amount of new data backed up, without it being a nuisance — especially when replacing an off-site backup frequently.
The general guidance is to back up your important data at least once a week, but it’s preferable to back up once every 24 hours. This will ensure that the day’s data will get backed up and be up-to-date, meaning you don’t need to worry about any data loss or discrepancy.
What to Back Up
Backing up your whole organisation every day is inefficient. It’s important to instead pick and choose your most important data and back that up regularly — this includes sensitive data, documents, and any data that may change regularly — and back up other data that will change infrequently and isn’t as sensitive less regularly.
Selecting the Right Backup Provider
Cloud backup is incredibly important for businesses right now, due to the sheer power and reliability of the cloud. Picking the right cloud backup provider is vital to making sure that you’re not wasting time and money on implementing your cloud backup, though.
The most important thing to consider is your backup needs, and how the provider can meet them — whether it be storage, cost, accessibility, or even just whether you trust the provider to be able to keep your data safe, researching the benefits and drawbacks of each provider will help you work out which is right for you.
How We Can Help
Backups are vital to ensuring that your business can maintain continuity in the face of disaster. It’s vital to ensure that you have a robust backup strategy in place and to follow well-known and recommended practices to ensure that your backup is effective.
If you’re looking to back up your data and need a helping hand with working everything out, reach out to us today. We’re here to help and will ensure that you have everything you need along the way.
Contact us now and see how we can help you.
