A Business’ Data Needs a Backup

Data backup is a topic that we are always willing to discuss, and if you follow this blog at all, that will likely become very apparent. Now, some of the readers of this blog will have a data backup and recovery strategy in place, and you aren’t the ones we want to speak to. Instead, we want to talk to the people who don’t have one, the ones who need to fix that.

Regardless of what your business does, or how it does it, the data your business has is valuable. After all, a lot has gone into its creation… just consider the combined effort that your sales and marketing team, your human resources department, and the rest of your staff rely on and generate during their respective operations. Add to that all the data you’ve collected from your clients and customers.

Now imagine the repercussions of losing any of that data.

So Yes, Data is a Big Deal...

… and as such, it needs to be protected. While antivirus, firewalls, intrusion detection, and all the other security tools we always recommend are a necessary part of this, a real disaster will require more. It will require a comprehensive backup and disaster recovery strategy to be fully planned and implemented.

Of course, a “disaster” can come in many forms, like:

• Human error
• Malware attack
• Sabotage and theft
• Hardware malfunction
• Power surges
• Software corruption

So, with all of the different ways that your business could experience disaster, it is imperative that you create a business continuity strategy that, by incorporating a backup and recovery plan, prepares you to sustain your operations through even the worst possible scenarios.

In theory, a business has options to consider when making these preparations. Technically speaking, backup solutions like tape and removable hard drives could work for you, as could a cloud backup. At the end of the day, it all comes down to how your data is handled, and how you would need to scale your backup in the future. Having said that, we typically recommend a BDR solution.

This is because the BDR covers both your backup and disaster recovery needs. As a network-attached storage device, it is configured to incrementally backup files, preventing the large chunks of data created between backups from being lost. The BDR can also act as a temporary server, should your original experience malfunctions. To provide the needed redundancy, the BDR will also save a copy of your backup in an offsite data center. As a result, a disaster that wipes your business’ data as well as the BDR still won’t eliminate your data entirely.

To learn more about the BDR, reach out to Walsh IT Group by calling (832) 295-1445.