Absence of backup, recovery equals disaster
Proper backup
In fact, selecting the right backup system or service should be one of the first things a company does, says Simon Campbell-Young, CEO of Phoenix Distribution. "However, when deciding how to backup and store data, what methods to use, and which service provider to choose, there are an overwhelming number of choices. These will include whether to back up on premise, or to make use of the cloud, or both."
He says traditional data backup is still in play, and works well in certain environments. However, in more dynamic environments, traditional backup is no longer doing the job, particularly when bearing the new data protection laws in mind. "Alongside this, trends such as mobility, cloud, big data and virtualisation are changing the game, and seeing companies faced with increasingly large amounts of data that need storing and protecting."
Then he says there is the question of what data to protect. "While companies usually do have measures in place to protect their most critical data, other data is often overlooked. This could include emails, business documents, source code and similar, often left out due to cost pressures. Moreover, the most solid backup ensures that a separate copy of all important data should be backed up and stored at another location, a procedure which is too often overlooked."
Risks in the absence of proper storage and backup
In the absence of proper storage and backup, there are several situations that can arise. "Firstly, the malicious insider. We've all heard stories about a dissatisfied employee who has stolen proprietary company data, but more dangerous are those who have taken it upon themselves to wipe entire servers or all the company's mailboxes out of spite. Only a comprehensive data recovery plan that ensured that everything was backed up on a regular basis would have ensured that that nothing was lost, and business could return to normal as quickly as possible."
Secondly, says Campbell-Black, too many staff members assume that backing up to a flash drive or other external drive is adequate and constitutes a safe back up. It doesn't. "These types of devices are far more prone to getting lost, stolen or broken, and are definitely not designed with longevity in mind. They are not robust, and too often, you'll notice that cheap external storage devices only last a year, maybe two, before giving up the ghost."
Thirdly, he says, failure to implement a good disaster recovery plan can result in catastrophic losses due to accidental deletion of information. "It is too easy to click the wrong button when doing a transfer of thousands of documents or emails. Accidents can happen to anyone, but ensuring everything is backed up and stored will prevent a disaster."
He says solutions from top, reputable vendors such as StorageCraft, can help your business back up quickly and recover data immediately in the event of an incident. The company has developed best-in-class backup, disaster recovery, system migration, virtualisation, and data protection solutions for servers, desktops, and laptops.
"StorageCraft is known for the reliability of its products, and offers software solutions that reduce downtime, improve security and stability for systems and data, and lower the total cost of ownership for systems in a computing environment," Campbell-Young concludes.
