Unless you’re very, very new here, you’ve probably seen how much we prioritize that a business prepares a comprehensive data backup strategy to help secure its continuity. Many recent events have only reinforced the importance of such a backup strategy, so let’s take a few minutes to review what needs to go into yours.
Properly Designing an Effective Backup Strategy
For your data backup to be of any use, putting it together should be a multi-step process. That way you can be sure that all the requirements demanded by your backup strategy have been attended to properly. The first step is fairly straightforward:
1. Define Your Recovery Goals
Before you start rolling your eyes at how obvious this step is, it is important to acknowledge just how specific these definitions will need to be. While the ultimate goal of your backup should be to recover all your data and restore all of your operations as quickly as possible, your actual benchmarks need to be much more precise. How much data will it take to resume your most essential operations? How much downtime can you absorb? Knowing these details will help you to recover successfully, minimizing your chances of joining the ranks of the businesses that fail under a year after experiencing downtime.
2. Make Sure Your Team is Up to Speed
Of course, having a backup is only one part of the equation. If your team doesn’t know how to properly implement it should the need arise, it isn’t going to do you much good. Dedicating the time to train your employees to utilize their resources—backups included—is an investment that will directly benefit your operations.
3. Develop (and Test) Standard Procedures
Once your goals are established and your team has been fully briefed, don’t be afraid to keep them on their toes by evaluating them every so often. While we certainly aren’t recommending that you encourage your team to make errors, we are recommending that you regularly quiz your employees on the data recovery processes you’ve built. One very effective way to evaluate the efficacy of your backup is to have your business operate off it as though an emergency had struck. This also helps you identify and resolve any shortcomings in your strategy.
When push comes to shove, having a backup could be the difference between a data hiccup and a full-blown disaster. Business Solutions & Software Group can help you implement the backup solution (and other crucial technology services and solutions) that your business needs for its success. Learn more about what we can do for you by calling (954) 575-3992.
