It’s no industry secret that one of the most important pieces of IT that any business should have is a data backup solution. You want a data backup solution that is resilient, dependable, and automated.
Here are a few basic considerations for a data backup that you can trust.
Keep Your Backup Safe
Your backup is more than just an insurance policy for your business operations. In the case of a weather disaster or other cause of data loss such as a ransomware attack, your backup essentially takes your business’ place, allowing you to recover more quickly with fewer consequences. This means that your backup needs to be kept safe.
The first step to doing so is to make sure your data backup is stored separately from your primary data storage. After all, a backup that is damaged by the same disaster that damaged the original data is hardly worth maintaining. Cloud-based backups are especially effective at preserving your data in a major disaster.
Develop a Disaster Recovery Strategy
How quickly could your business return to full operation after undergoing a disaster? While establishing an off-site backup to preserve your data is a good start, you also need to have a plan in place that will allow you to put that data to use as quickly as possible. The downtime a disaster causes can force your business to twiddle its thumbs while you’re waiting for your data to be restored. Traditional tape backup can take anywhere from several hours to whole days, especially if you have a lot of data that must be restored. Naturally, when no work is being done, progress is halted, which can be detrimental to your business.
This is where it’s useful to have a disaster recovery strategy, as it allows you to proactively prepare for circumstances that would otherwise lead to data loss and wasted time and productivity.
Make Sure Everything Works
Imagine what it would be like to go through the entire process of establishing an offsite backup, only to have it fail when you’re relying on it. Fortunately, this can be avoided through some simple tests to ensure that the backup works effectively. You’ll be happy you did if you ever find yourself in the position that you need to restore from a backup and it works.
Exact IT Consulting’s comprehensive suite of proactive and innovative technology solutions can help you make strategic, long-term IT decisions.
