Why You Need a Backup and Disaster Recovery Plan

There’s no denying that cyber attacks are on the rise – and not just against individuals, but small businesses, larger corporations and even the government.

It’s not only cyber attacks from external parties than can threaten your sensitive data and systems. Everything from poor internal practices to natural disasters affecting physical servers can lead to significant damage for your business – and unthinkable costs to get back on track.

In one real-world example, a food and beverage company was in the middle of a massive expansion when a fire destroyed its data centre. Thanks to their robust backup and disaster recovery plan, they ended up saving themselves from around $40 million in damages.

So, what should you focus on for your backup and disaster recovery plan?

 

Backing up everything from email to company data

When you think about backing up your business, you’re probably focused on storing your company’s data (either on-premise or in the cloud) from your most-used programs. An accounting firm, for example, will want to secure their clients’ data from their in-house accounting app, while a transit company will want to make sure all their delivery logs from their dedicated business platform are stored safely.

However you need to think beyond just your company-specific tools. Consider email. In most businesses, internal emails are being sent and received hundreds or even thousands of times every day. In many cases they will include sensitive material. What would happen if one of your employees fell victim to a phishing scam, or if an external party gained access to an employees’s email login?

Similarly, if you use Microsoft applications such as OneNote, for example, you may fall victim to default settings like their 30-day retention period before data is deleted.

 

Should you choose on-premise or cloud backup?

Next you need to think about where to back up your data. While on-premise servers may have been the traditional approach up to this point, they are susceptible to physical attacks and natural disasters, and can be expensive to maintain. Cloud-enabled backup, on the other hand, is much more cost-effective and convenient, with the ability to back up what you need anywhere, anytime. If you are running on-premise servers, consider switching over to the cloud.

 

Document your backup and disaster recovery plan

Finally, ensure you document your backup and disaster recovery plan. This document should include staff responsibilities, how to inform customers (and the media, if necessary), a complete inventory of your business-critical hardware and software and your tolerance for downtime and data loss.

You can’t avoid the unexpected, but you can plan for the worst. Protect your organisation by shifting your backup operations to the cloud, and create a solid disaster recovery plan so you know what to do in the event of a major crisis.

Entire Tech are the backup and disaster recovery experts. We can manage your offsite backup needs, continually monitor them and provide regular reports to give you peace of mind. To find out more, contact us today.

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