The Importance of Backups

Date Posted:

The Importance of Backups

Date Posted:

IT backups

As an IT support/services provider, we are constantly talking about the importance of having good backup protocols as part of your data security and business continuity strategies, and more importantly the significance of Managed Backups.

Many businesses we speak to have either never considered backups to be necessary or they have seriously flawed backup procedures in place. They simply haven’t taken on board the seriousness of the threat and vulnerability landscape, even though there are stories in the media every day about the dangers of cybercrime, data theft, IT security breaches and viruses such as crypto locker ransomware attacks etc. Add to this the plain and simple fact that IT sometimes goes wrong, things break, accidents happen, humans make mistakes, natural disasters occur, and when any of these things happen, you run the risk of losing your data.

I was at a business continuity event recently and one of the expert speakers shared some scary statistics with the audience. One statistic was that over 80% of businesses that suffer a data breach go out of business within 2 years of the incident. They just can’t quite recover from the damage caused. There are of course many possible factors involved in the demise of a business following a data breach but taking logical mitigating steps and layering your security is the best way to avoid this, and having solid, managed backup procedures is a very important part of the equation.

Un-managed backups and why most businesses should avoid them:

There are a few businesses out there that may have genuine reasons for feeling that they don’t need Managed Online Backups. They may be 100% certain that all of the staff involved in the procedure 100% know what they are doing when it comes to using backup platforms like One Drive, iCloud or drop box, and that those staff will never forget to run the backups, or, won’t ever be involved in something else which stops them from running the backups. If the chosen method of storage is a USB/portable hard drive, they may also be 100% certain that those hard drives won’t ever be lost, stolen or destroyed.

However, it is highly unlikely that many businesses out there are in this position. There are too many things that can go wrong in an unmanaged, non-automated backup procedure. Backups are part of your insurance policy against the myriad of ‘what ifs’ where your data security is concerned, and you want to always be in a position to be up and running in the shortest time possible with as much of your mission-critical data intact as possible in the event of a data loss incident. Keeping downtime and loss of data to a minimum will be a major factor in guaranteeing your recovery from such an incident.

Benefits of Managed Online Backups:
  • Avoid human error – remove the risk of forgetting to run backups and eliminate the potential for loss of portable hard drives.
  • Remote access – Most managed backup systems store your data in multiple locations, so you always have access to your data and eliminate the risk of it being lost.
  • Cost-effective solution – because your data is hosted offsite and you only pay for the amount of storage you use, you eliminate the cost of having your own storage system onsite.
  • Higher levels of security – backup providers should be experts in their field and should have IT security as a high priority meaning that your data is far more secure than non-managed backup procedures and platforms.
  • Faster and fuller disaster recovery – restore more of your data quickly in the event of a data breach or disaster.
  • Highly automated – eliminate the dangers involved in forgetting to run backups.
  • Ability to test backups – because you are enlisting the services of a qualified 3rd party you can more easily test your backups are working.
  • Increased protection from sabotage and fraud – taking the backup procedure away from your staff helps to eliminate the potential for sabotage and fraud attempts

Intrasource can help you put in place highly secure, quality backup procedures as part of your data security strategy. Contact us on 01482 628800 or [email protected] to find out more or find out how to choose your cloud provider here. Always make sure to get the most out of your cloud services!

Find more IT cloud news and information here.

IT backups

As an IT support/services provider, we are constantly talking about the importance of having good backup protocols as part of your data security and business continuity strategies, and more importantly the significance of Managed Backups.

Many businesses we speak to have either never considered backups to be necessary or they have seriously flawed backup procedures in place. They simply haven’t taken on board the seriousness of the threat and vulnerability landscape, even though there are stories in the media every day about the dangers of cybercrime, data theft, IT security breaches and viruses such as crypto locker ransomware attacks etc. Add to this the plain and simple fact that IT sometimes goes wrong, things break, accidents happen, humans make mistakes, natural disasters occur, and when any of these things happen, you run the risk of losing your data.

I was at a business continuity event recently and one of the expert speakers shared some scary statistics with the audience. One statistic was that over 80% of businesses that suffer a data breach go out of business within 2 years of the incident. They just can’t quite recover from the damage caused. There are of course many possible factors involved in the demise of a business following a data breach but taking logical mitigating steps and layering your security is the best way to avoid this, and having solid, managed backup procedures is a very important part of the equation.

Un-managed backups and why most businesses should avoid them:

There are a few businesses out there that may have genuine reasons for feeling that they don’t need Managed Online Backups. They may be 100% certain that all of the staff involved in the procedure 100% know what they are doing when it comes to using backup platforms like One Drive, iCloud or drop box, and that those staff will never forget to run the backups, or, won’t ever be involved in something else which stops them from running the backups. If the chosen method of storage is a USB/portable hard drive, they may also be 100% certain that those hard drives won’t ever be lost, stolen or destroyed.

However, it is highly unlikely that many businesses out there are in this position. There are too many things that can go wrong in an unmanaged, non-automated backup procedure. Backups are part of your insurance policy against the myriad of ‘what ifs’ where your data security is concerned, and you want to always be in a position to be up and running in the shortest time possible with as much of your mission-critical data intact as possible in the event of a data loss incident. Keeping downtime and loss of data to a minimum will be a major factor in guaranteeing your recovery from such an incident.

Benefits of Managed Online Backups:
  • Avoid human error – remove the risk of forgetting to run backups and eliminate the potential for loss of portable hard drives.
  • Remote access – Most managed backup systems store your data in multiple locations, so you always have access to your data and eliminate the risk of it being lost.
  • Cost-effective solution – because your data is hosted offsite and you only pay for the amount of storage you use, you eliminate the cost of having your own storage system onsite.
  • Higher levels of security – backup providers should be experts in their field and should have IT security as a high priority meaning that your data is far more secure than non-managed backup procedures and platforms.
  • Faster and fuller disaster recovery – restore more of your data quickly in the event of a data breach or disaster.
  • Highly automated – eliminate the dangers involved in forgetting to run backups.
  • Ability to test backups – because you are enlisting the services of a qualified 3rd party you can more easily test your backups are working.
  • Increased protection from sabotage and fraud – taking the backup procedure away from your staff helps to eliminate the potential for sabotage and fraud attempts

Intrasource can help you put in place highly secure, quality backup procedures as part of your data security strategy. Contact us on 01482 628800 or [email protected] to find out more or find out how to choose your cloud provider here. Always make sure to get the most out of your cloud services!

Find more IT cloud news and information here.

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