Data is the lifeblood of most modern businesses. Just think about the time you spend collecting information, creating documents and generating data. If this information were to go missing, it would heavily disrupt your business operations and would potentially take a lot of time to recreate.
In some cases, recreating data might not be possible, especially as more and more businesses are going paperless to improve their carbon footprint. That’s why businesses need data backup and recovery strategies in place. It’s a safety net that protects your company’s information and data.
What is data?
Data is all the information stored on your system, whether that be a phone, tablet, laptop or server. This data includes documents, images, contracts, customer information, accounting records, employee records, emails and other communications, applications, databases, operating systems, configuration files and more.
With the growth of digitization, most companies depend on their data to operate, and very little is kept in physical file folders and cabinets anymore.
What is data backup?
Data backup is the process of copying data from one location to another. This process protects the data in case of an accident, natural disaster or malicious attack. The simplest example of data backup is saving a duplicate of a file on a USB drive. More advanced examples include servers and the cloud.
The Ultimate Small Business Guide on Building a Data Backup Strategy
What is data recovery?
Data recovery is the process of restoring data that has been backed up. This is done when files are deleted, damaged, corrupted or inaccessible.
The true cost of lost data
The cost of losing data will depend on the amount of data lost, the type of data and whether you have a way of recreating it, such as using paper copies to reproduce files and entries. For example, if a single accounting transaction or customer profile gets deleted by accident, the cost associated with replacing it would be substantially less than if your customer database and accounting file were to be corrupted by a bad update or malicious attack.
In the first example, you would have to pay at least one employee to gather and recreate the data that you’ve already paid them to create.
In the second example, where your file is completely corrupted, you will have to re-enter substantially more information. Chances are you will have to get several team members on board, which means paying multiple people for duplicate work. In addition, while those team members try and resolve the problem, at least a portion of your department will be down, which means you won’t be attending to current issues as quickly. Depending on the department affected, this may mean delays in accepting payments, assisting customers or processing shipments. It may even mean a total inability to provide a service.
And this is all assuming you can recreate the data. In some instances, the data will be completely gone, which can devastate a company. In fact, according to Gartner, only 6% of companies without disaster recovery in place continue to operate 2 years after the incident.
Advantages of data backup and recovery
Reduced costs in the case of an accident, disaster or malicious attack is the primary advantage of data backup and recovery. But this is not the only advantage. Here are some key benefits:
- Important files stay safe – The main goal of data backup and recovery is to keep your most important information safe from loss or destruction. Reliable backup services can help your company protect data from internal and external attacks.
- Peace of mind – Knowing that your information will be safe, regardless of what happens, can help reduce stress, especially with the growing number of cybercrime.
- Ease – When your data is lost, you know exactly what to do and how to do it. There’s no need to hesitate and discuss next steps.
- Speed – The time it takes to get back to regular operations can make-or-break your company. When you use data backup, information can be recovered in substantially less time.
- Compliance – By storing data through regular backups, you will be better able to respond to legal and auditor requests.
- Reputation management – Because you can get back to business as usual more quickly, which will help maintain your reputation and improve customer satisfaction even when information is lost.
For more information on implementing a data backup and recovery system, contact us today.
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