One of the secrets of a successful business owner is the ability to be forward-thinking. That includes factoring in the possibilities for positive change, but also planning for the problems that could arise. Data loss is one of the worst-case scenarios that all businesses should plan for. Loss of data can cause damaging downtime or even cripple a business. If it happens to you, will you be able to handle the consequences?
Are we being over-dramatic? Well, we’re stating the case strongly, but it’s still true that an organization that doesn’t take steps to ensure it can weather potential storms is potentially vulnerable to changing circumstances. Forward planning to ensure business continuity is something you can’t afford to ignore.
Data Loss – the Aftermath
Almost every business depends on its IT and its data. Data is a valuable resource and losing it – or even losing access temporarily – can cause serious disruption. Your data may include corporate and financial data, metrics, confidential client data and other important records. It’s worth taking time to consider just how much your organization relies on this digital data, and what the impact of losing some (or even all) of it might be.
Disaster recovery solutions are essential for your business to resume operations and can help you to carry on even if major problems occur. But, even if you have a data backup system in place, you’re not necessarily entirely in the clear. To avoid damaging downtime, you need to have a way of restoring your data quickly. No matter whether the problem was the result of a natural disaster or a cyberattack engineered by humans, you need a comprehensive disaster recovery plan. Data backup is a key element, but you also need to consider operations, the longevity of your workforce and alternative ways of working.
Essential Steps in Disaster Recovery
A cloud-based data backup solution is ideal for businesses because your data will be held securely off-site, and so will be unaffected by disasters affecting your premises, such as fire or floods. The data backup system will take regular ‘snapshots’ of your data, which has various advantages:
- • You will benefit from backups taken at intervals throughout the day, rather than a single backup than at the end of each day, which is common practice.
- • You will be able to access those backups in minutes, which can be a lifeline for businesses. The quicker you can restore your data, the quicker you’ll be able to resume operations.
- • With a cloud-based system, you don’t have to worry about the processes involved in restoring the data. This is all taken care of with a cloud solution.
To ensure minimal downtime if serious problems affect your business IT, it’s vital to ensure that you have effective ways to back up your data, and a disaster recovery plan that fits the needs of your business. Natural disasters and other situations that lead to critical data loss can’t always be predicted or avoided, but you can make sure that you’re prepared. For further information on enterprise-level data backup and disaster recovery solutions for your business, speak to the professionals at Quikteks. Call us today at (973) 882-4644.