Why it’s Critical that Small Businesses Backup their Data
March 31st is World Backup Day, an unofficial holiday that seeks to raise awareness for the importance of data and regularly backing it up. Backups can save us time and money in many areas of our lives—think about the how important it is to have a spare tire in the back of your car. But with data, a backup can save your business 60% of companies that lose their data will shut down within six months of a disaster. Not only that, about 70% of business people have experienced (or will experience) data loss.
Data Loss – How it Happens
While modern technology might seem consistent and reliable, data loss can occur for a variety of reasons. Everything fails at some point or other—it’s simply a question of when, and whether you’re prepared. Here are a few ways that data loss occurs:
- Computer crashes and virus infections. Crashes, virus infections, and malware attacks are usually unexpected, and often lead to data loss, corrupt files, and even whole systems being shut down.
- Hard drive failures. The death of a hard drive can occur on a whim, and with it irreplaceable files.
- Physical damage and human error. Dropped your laptop? Spilled a cup of joe onto your PC? A storm took your systems out? Sometimes it’s not possible to retrieve data from damaged devices.
- Theft. Laptops and other mobile devices are especially vulnerable to being stolen.
Saving your data in only one place can pose a major threat to the livelihood of your business. It’s important that businesses take the necessary steps to ensure that if they lose their data, they can get it back.
Data Loss – How to Protect Yourself
- Utilize cloud storage. The market for cloud storage has quickly grown with several cheap reliable options, led by Google, Dropbox, Amazon, and Apple. Synced across devices, the cloud has allowed not only for better recovery plans, but increased efficiency.
- Schedule local backups regularly. In addition to the cloud, be sure to back your most critical data up locally to both an external hard drive or directly onto your system.
- Protect your systems. Utilize encryption software to fend off malware attacks and would be hackers.
- Test your recovery plan. Nothing could be more terrifying than your recovery plan not functioning when it comes down to crunch time! Be sure to schedule tests for your plan.
While you can’t prevent all forms of data loss (i.e. a freak storm) you can be proactive about thoroughly backing your data up. Through our parent company, eMazzanti Technologies, we specialize in helping businesses transition to the cloud, and will guide you through a step-by-step process to ensure the longevity of your information, and services. Contact us today!
