What is World Backup Day?
March 31 is World Backup Day. I find it a bit ironic that it is the day before April Fools since it could be said that you are a fool if you are not backing up your data.
World Backup Day is a global reminder to keep your data safe and secure. It was established in 2011 as an annual event to send a message of the importance of keeping backup data. The more people that understand the problem and need for creating reliable backups, the better.
Why is it important to back up data?
Do I really need to explain this? I will just relay one stat, 60% of businesses shut down within 6 months of a disaster after losing their data! Data loss can happen from natural disasters, inside or outside hackers, data corruption, and accidental deletion. It is most likely that you have personally experienced a loss of data at some point and it created some pain. Imagine losing part or all of your companies data! Having good backups has numerous benefits besides going out of business :
- Quick Recovery – Every second that your business is incapable of performing a task is eating into its capacity to survive.
- Prevents Loss – By backing up your data to other locations than your primary server or computer, you are protecting accidents from deleting valuable data.
- $$ – Saves you money $$ – Recovering from a Ransomware attack, not having to worry paying employees for downtime or paying for the reproduction of lost files, contracts, video content, etc…
Options of backing up your data
- External hard drives or USB drives – These portable storage devices are perfect for creating a second copy of data quickly, even having software that will automate a daily backup. However, they do have their flaws, namely, they are easy to misplace, they are self-managed and they can fail.
- Cloud Backups – There are numerous cloud backup vendors to choose from, and quite a lot of them are free, up to a certain data size. Again, most are self-managed, meaning it is up to you to make sure they are functioning. You also are responsible for periodic testing to make sure what you think is being backed up is available to restore.
- Hybrid Solutions – The Miller Group requires are Managed Services clients to implement a hybrid solution for their backups. This consists of an automated hourly image backup of a system to a local device that then also creates an image in the cloud each day. This allows you to have multiple copies of your backup in multiple locations.
Don’t forget your website and SAAS data!
Websites have important data as well that if lost can be hard and time-consuming to recreate. If you use a CMS (WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, etc..) platform for your website they are plenty of free and paid plugins that will automate full website backups.
Cloud data is important as well. Your email, calendars, and files can be stored in the cloud if you utilize Microsoft Office 365, DropBox, or Google Mail for example. Having an automated system in place to quickly recover lost data in the cloud is just as important as the data that sits locally at your office.
The whole point of World Backup Day is to remind everyone that copies of information are vital to recovery and success. From surviving a natural disaster to eliminating the threat of ransomware, backups keep you productive and protected. Contact The Miller Group if you feel you could beef up your backup game.
As our Chief Strategy Officer, Chris Roberts is committed to helping each and every one of our clients attain a higher standard of IT efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and optimization. He focuses on research and development in an effort to identify and harness the best IT practices for businesses.
