Even with a data recovery strategy, you can’t expect all problems related to data continuity to be resolved simply by having a strategy in place. Take a moment to ask yourself if you have the right strategy for your business’ needs. Below you will find several considerations to keep in mind when planning your data backup system, as well as how to make it happen.
1. Compliance Concerns
The first cause for concern is whether or not the data is being stored securely, as well as whether it’s being sent to and from your backup solution properly. Industries that deal with compliance and government mandates will affect how your business deals with data backup and disaster recovery. If your organization doesn’t suffer from data loss, it certainly will suffer from the fines that non-compliance can bring with it.
It doesn’t matter if you manage your own solution in-house or you work with a vendor. Data security will always be an important part of data backup. Even a small business can benefit from avoiding these risks and compliance regulatory fines. While some small businesses might be limited in terms of IT resources, outsourcing alleviates this issue considerably while minimizing risk.
2. Costs and Scalability
Your business’ specific needs, as well as the costs associated with them, will be instrumental to ensuring the success of your disaster recovery system. Before selecting your provider, be sure to keep these additional charges in mind, as some might charge you for just a simple copy of your backed-up data. A backup solution should never be assumed exclusive to just major disasters like a ransomware attack or a fire, as even everyday occurrences like a hardware failure or a small-scale data loss incident could be enough to cause more than just a little annoyance. Any strategy implemented must also be documented in a way that is easy to read and implement.
3. Lack of Management or Testing
If there’s one thing worse than suffering from a disaster, it’s suffering from a disaster and having a data backup system that doesn’t work properly. In many cases, this will be your business’ responsibility, but what if a disaster strikes when you’re not in the office to react to it? A comprehensive data plan that accounts for this is critical, and you need to have both a copy of your data in the office as well as in the cloud for easy deployment. Of course, none of this matters if your data backup system doesn’t work, so test it once in a while to make sure that it will actually help in the event of a disaster. For reference, you should do it as often as you might do a fire drill, or even more frequently.
How We Can Help
The best part of working with a managed service provider for all of your business’ data backup needs is that all of the above can be handled by our professional staff. To learn more about how we can help you prevent and react to data loss incidents, reach out to Excedeo at 619.398.4100.