What is data backup and recovery?

You’ve probably heard of the concept of data backup and recovery by now with the rise of data theft and ransomware attacks, but what is it? 

Data backup and recovery is making an additional copy of your data in case it’s lost and setting up systems that allow you to retrieve that data. Data can only be reliably recovered if it has been backed up at an earlier date. 

These days you can backup most of your data on the cloud, meaning that it is stored on an external server rather than on premises.

Why does your business need data backup and recovery?

While it’s not an everyday occurrence, data loss can happen at any time. Simply hoping that your business won’t be affected isn’t a good long term strategy. 

The most common causes are human error, employee or competitor theft and physical failure of hardware. Events such as storms, fires or even a misplaced cup of coffee spilling can result in irreversible damage. 

Most businesses only save their data in one place, like their computer hard driver. When that’s lost so is all their data.

Here’s why you need a proper strategy in place to preserve your data. 

Technology can fail at any time

With the increasing digitisation of the workplace more and more paper is being replaced with electronic copies. This means that important documents are now stored on company hard drives and computers.

All of this hardware is vulnerable to unpredictable natural disasters or even cyberattacks. Imagine telling a client that their data is lost because the business computers are down. 

This is why storing all your data in one place is so risky. 

Human error

Ideally your employees are following the proper protocols and keeping your business data secure. 

Unfortunately we all make mistakes and a wrong click or accidentally spilt drink can mean valuable data is lost forever. 

Of course having secure employee processes is important, but you need a backup strategy in case things go wrong. 

Natural disaster

Unlike human error, there’s nothing you can do to control the elements. If you live in Australia you’ll be well aware of how wild the weather can get. 

Whether it’s fire, storms flooding or even tornadoes, natural disaster can strike at any time and damage business hardware. 

With a cloud backup strategy in place, you’ll have peace of mind that your valuable data is stored safe in an external server. 

Data theft

It may come as a surprise but corporate data theft is on the rise. According to Biscom, 85% of employees have admitted to stealing data that they’ve created. 

It’s hard to imagine that your loyal employees may one day end up taking sensitive data from your company. But unfortunately it does happen, especially when they leave on bad terms.

This data could be passed to competitors or simply taken and lost from your business forever. 

It could cost you your business

While there’s no need to panic, there is actually a significant risk that a major data loss event could mean the end of your business. 

A 2007 University of Texas study showed that 43 percent of businesses that have a major data loss shutdown permanently. Most of these businesses closed within 2 years of the data loss event. 

Losing valuable business data can mean lost productivity and even loss of client business.

Even though it’s possible to recover from such an event it’s best to err on the side of caution and protect your business with a backup solution. 

You could be doing the same work twice

We’ve all heard the saying “Do it right the first time”. Well this applies to data backups as well.

Imagine your team spends long days and occasional nights working on an important project and disaster strikes.

Everything is lost and can’t be recovered. 

This could mean redoing everything all over again and incurring double the cost, or even abandoning the project all together. 

If only you had a data backup strategy in place, you would never have to worry about sheer bad luck hurting your bottom line. 

How EIT Solutions can help

If you’re concerned about securing your data from the full range of potential threats, we can help with . We offer cloud based data backup and recovery solutions to make sure that your business is prepared for the worst. Contact us today to get started.