Data backup is a critical part of any successful business, and, because it’s so simple, it may actually be overlooked. This week, we’ll walk you through the proper steps for making sure your organization has a successful data backup solution so if a situation arises and you need it, you’ll have it ready to recover and not be exasperated to find out that your business is in deep trouble.
How often do you think about your business’ future? If you are a good business owner, chances are your hopes and aspirations for the future are informing your current business practices, but if not, we have news for you. Even something as simple as a hardware failure can be enough to derail operations bad enough that you may not be able to recover—especially if you are unprepared for the data loss that could ensue.
Even when everything is going well, running a business can be challenging—all of that is to say that things are especially difficult when everything starts to go wrong, particularly in the realm of business continuity. While nobody likes to imagine the worst-case scenario, we always like to say that imaging the worst-case scenario can help you prepare for it, and it can take the sting away from dealing with it.
You may have seen us use the term “redundant” on this blog often, and if you are not necessarily familiar with how it might be used in the context of business technology, we understand how you could misconstrue the word in a negative light. However, redundancy is one of the most important concepts to understand in business technology, and it’s key to your business’ continued success.
One of the most important solutions for a small business to implement is a data backup and disaster recovery system. It is a crucial element of any business continuity plan, yet many organizations fail to implement one in an appropriate manner. Let’s discuss three of the best reasons you must consider data backup and disaster recovery now before it’s too late.
When we discuss business continuity, the generalization “disaster” could mean just about anything that halts normal business operations. How does your organization respond to an actual disaster, one that can potentially destroy your business completely? Let’s take a look at some of the ways your organization can prepare for these circumstances to keep your organization from an unfortunate demise.
Your business is not unique in the sense that it stores and transmits data during its day-to-day routines. Whether it’s financial information for your clients or employee records, it is more than likely that your business holds some kind of critical data that your operations rely on throughout the workday. Would your operations be able to recover from a sudden loss of data?
Know it or not, your business takes in and creates a lot of data. Most of this data, like most items and information, isn’t worth much. Some of it, however, is crucial to your business’ ability to operate. If a situation comes along where you are faced with the prospect of losing your data, it will be much better to have a backup plan in place than not.
I think we’ve made it pretty clear that your organization needs to back up its data. We’re continuously explaining that if you don’t back up your data, and have a plan to get it back quickly, you are really testing the foundations of your business. After all, in today’s business climate, data is a very big deal.
2017 has already seen its fair share of cybersecurity threats, and when paired with the events of 2016, it’s clear that implementing a business continuity plan is more important than ever. Today, we’ll discuss what businesses need to do to ] ensure their continuity based on this year’s IT trends, as well as the challenges many faces as they try to implement a strong continuity strategy.
Of any solution that might help your business out of a jam, a data backup is possibly the most important. However, a backup is only as reliable as it is configured to be. To ensure your backup is optimized to your business’ needs, we’ve compiled a few questions to ask as you examine your backup solution.
Businesses need to take security into account and make it a priority. In fact, security is so important that Verizon has compiled a report of the various types of attacks and data breaches that occurred in the past year. This is Verizon’s Data Breach Investigations Report, or DBIR, and it offers insights into how you can protect your business and secure your assets.
A data loss incident is considered a major disaster scenario, especially for small and medium-sized businesses. All it takes is one moment to lose your business’s entire data infrastructure. We’ll walk you through a story that should serve as a cautionary tale, one that hopefully teaches you to adhere to data backup and disaster recovery best practices.
Marco Marsala, a hosting provider, posted on a server forum looking for advice on how to deal with a major issue he encountered while trying to delete a few files. He had utilized what’s called the “rm-rf” command with undefined variables, which wound up destroying all data on the system. Like any good hosting provider, he had backups of the files, but, like a dumb-dumb, he had the backups stored on the system that he accidentally wiped. What a mess.
This is actually a similar blunder to one that Pixar experienced, almost deleting Toy Story 2 prior to its release.
As a result of Marsala’s negligence, all of the data that his company had stored was destroyed. This included the data of 1,535 customers, whom he had built and hosted websites for. Without any backups stored off-site, he had no way to recover the data.
As you might expect, the responses that Marsala received from other users of the online forum were quite negative. Many completely dismissed the possibility that his company could recover from such a devastating failure, and others questioned his abilities as a hosting provider. One poster even went as far as recommending that Marsala seek legal counsel, rather than attempt to restore the data, predicting that Marsala was “going out of business.”
The conclusion: Marsala’s best chance of recovering from this major blow was to recruit help from a third-party data recovery firm. Fortunately for him, the company was able to recover his files, but that doesn’t change the fact that his simple mistake was a huge hit to his company’s finances. The company suffered from fees associated with the disaster recovery process, as well as reduced income from the loss of business suffered as a result of his negligence.
The lesson: neglecting to follow best practices got Marsala in some hot water, and his failure basically invited disaster to his doorstep. Following the accepted best practices of data recovery could have easily prevented the situation from escalating as quickly as it did. In fact, Marsala’s reason for distress (user error) is one of the most common reasons to use a backup and disaster recovery solution, a solution that stores your backups off-site on a separate system.
Storing your data off-site allows your organization to avoid the many causes of data loss, including user error, fires, electrical surges, hardware failure, theft, and so much more. This minimizes the risk of these events threatening your business’s operations.
How do you manage your business’s data backups? Are they stored off-site, and do you have a system in place to rapidly deploy them in the event of a major disaster? If you’re uncertain, reach out to Direct Technology Group at (954) 739-4700.
Technology is always changing and evolving to suit the needs of modern society and business. Organizations that fully understand technology’s impact on business are always trying to make the most of their technology. Here are three ways that your company can better leverage its technological investments to meet your organization’s needs.
There are few things more important than the continuity of your business. Your livelihood, and that of your employees, depends on the continued functionality of your organization. Therefore, it becomes necessary to do all that you can to ensure your business is protected from an unexpected downfall, due to data loss, natural disasters, and other means.
September was National Disaster Preparedness Month, and as such, it’s important to consider the state of your business’s current backup and disaster recovery practices. Different disasters pose various threats for your organization, but many of them have one thing in common: they’re going to ruin your physical IT infrastructure, and, depending on your backup practices, could potentially bring down your entire operational infrastructure.
Internet users today are a little spooked, and for good reason. Stories of major hacks seem to perpetually be in the headlines. A hack attack can lead to stolen or compromised data, which is why backing up data is a crucial piece of every business continuity plan. For this purpose, World Backup Day 2015, March 31st, is an important day.
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