Backup is one of those activities that is frequently discussed and fretted over, but still not acted upon nearly as regularly as it should be. As part of our buildup to World Backup Day (31st March in case you were wondering!), we’re discussing the need for all-year-round effective backup and data recovery for businesses of all sizes.

The reality is that too often, it’s still not done correctly. It’s easy to treat World Backup Day as a once-yearly reminder, but it’s also a good reminder to get your organisation’s cyber security fit for purpose in the modern era of security risks.

The starting point for this is to get a robust and reliable backup and data recovery (BDR) solution in place.

Where to start?

The first step in the process is making sure that your wider organisation and management team understand the need for data protection – it’s not just “IT’s job”.

With the rise in ransomware and other types of attacks, every business (even smaller ones) needs a documented back up and data recovery plan that is built on a managed data protection service, and is able to recover data when there is a problem.

What are the risks to my organisation?

The cost of data loss and the time and manpower it takes to rebuild servers and computers from scratch.

The price of BDR is always going to be a lot less than the cost of data loss or the reputation loss caused by a ransomware attack. There are also many more options available now for storing data outside the four walls of a your office. It’s easier to back up data, store it, and retrieve it than it was in the past, making cost and convenience objections moot.

Test your recovery capabilities regularly

Besides making sure you back up your organisation’s data both on-premise and offsite, ensure you have a viable recovery plan in place, and that appropriate staff members know what that plan is. It’s also crucial that backups occur regularly — preferably daily. The OS and applications should be part of the backup process as well, and remote user data should be included.

Testing is critical. It’s the only way to validate your ability to restore from a backup. A complete disaster recovery test should be conducted at least once a year, but it’s better if it happens quarterly or monthly. By testing, you can confirm that the data you need is viable and that if something goes wrong, it can be remedied quickly.

While data protection is important year round, World Backup Day is an opportunity to remind yourself about the importance of disaster recovery (DR) and ensure your business has a robust recovery plan in place. Once you’ve backed up your data, make sure that you have the tools and resources in place to make backups more frequent, automated, and reliable across your customer base.

Check out this short video to learn more about Barracuda’s backup solutions:

How can I find out more?

As Barracuda Partners, Complete IT Systems can offer you expert advice on the solutions and how they could be effectively deployed in your business.

To find out more please call us on 01274 396 213 or use our contact form and we’ll arrange a good time to call you back.

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