World Backup Day 2020 is March 31st
A backup is a separate copy of all of your business’s important documents, photos, agreements, and other relevant files. If your business is hacked, something happens to your computer, or your system crashes, you can rest assured that your data is safe and secure in another location.
Accidents and worse happen to business tech all the time. According to the productivity and security firm Kensington, 60 million computers will fail worldwide this year, and more than 70 million smartphones will be lost or stolen.
World Backup Day is dedicated to making sure businesses backup their files. It provides the perfect opportunity for companies to prioritize securing their business data.
World Backup Day stats
- 30% of people have never backed up.
- 113 phones are lost or stolen every minute.
- 1 in 10 computers are infected with viruses each month.
These stats come from the World Backup Day website, and hopefully, they’ve made you consider your current business backup situation.
What is backup storage and why is it so important?
Backup storage is a secondary copy of all of your business’s important data. If these files aren’t backed up regularly, one small accident or computer failure could obliterate everything your business depends on.
Because this isn’t something your business normally sees or faces on a day to day basis, businesses often end up putting their backup on the backburner. Yet, losing data is a harsh reality that many businesses will face at some point. The loss could be caused by human error, failing hardware, malware, security breaches, or a natural disaster.
Businesses depend on the data they’ve accumulated over their years of operation. If this essential data is lost, companies won’t be able to pay their employees accordingly or make appropriate budgetary decisions. They’ll lose all of their customer insights, and their regular day to day operations will cease to function. Plus, for taxation purposes, the IRS legally requires that businesses hold onto their financial records for at least six years—meaning losing them isn’t really an option.
It’s up to you to ensure all of your relevant files are backed up to a secure location.
How to know if your backup is on the backburner
Are you aware of your backup and recovery procedures?
There are different ways to backup your data. You can backup up with an external drive, back up to the cloud, or backup data with a hybrid cloud method. Do you know which your business practices? Who is responsible for backup data, and are they aware of the important responsibility they hold?
Is your whole team aware of your data backup plan?
Does your entire team understand the importance of backing up data? Are they aware of your company procedures as well as the recovery plan you have in place? Does everyone understand the role they have should you require data recovery?
Do you know your RTO and RPO?
Do you know your Recovery Time Objective (RTO) and Recovery Point Objective (RPO)?
Recovery Time Objective is the maximum amount of time a business can be disrupted without irreversible damage to the business. When it comes to your data, this means how long you have to restore your data during a disruption or disaster before there are significant losses to your business.
Recovery Point Objective is the maximum amount of data a business can lose before it significantly hinders their future success. To get your business back up and running, do you need to restore two weeks of data, two months of data, or two years of data? What will it take to be able to resume necessary business functions?
Every business should be prepared with a disaster backup recovery plan should the worst happen to your business data.
Do your data backup strategies ensure everything is documented?
When it comes to your data, you need to make sure nothing slips through the cracks. Are you sure that your current backup strategy accounts for all business data? If a loss were to occur now, what data might go missing?
Do you know the last time your systems were tested?
Being aware of your backup systems and when they were last tested is incredibly important. Do you know when the last time your systems were tested? If you don’t know, do you know who in your company has this information?
You may be backing up to the cloud, but is that system running securely and effectively?
Data backup and recovery
If you were unsure of any of the questions above, your business is putting data backup on the backburner. Your backup schedule should be timely and regular, and your team should be aware of your backup procedures.
Don’t wait any longer to act. The sooner you get on top of your backup strategy, the better. World Backup Day, coming up on March 31st, is the perfect opportunity for you and your team to get started.
Want to learn more? Read our tips for backing up your data effectively.
Zeta Sky backup and recovery solutions
Zeta Sky provides IT services that eliminate employee complaints, increase overall productivity, and provide you with peace of mind. We help businesses tackle data backup and recovery, so you can focus on what you do best. We offer cloud backup solutions for small businesses, including outsourced data backup and recovery, disaster recovery, and managed cybersecurity.
Let’s decide together whether it’s time to outsource your IT management to the experts. Get in touch with our team to schedule a discovery session with us today.
