Worried You Don’t Have a Good Backup System for Your Data?

Built-in backup for Windows and IOS Are Not Enough to Protect You.

Key Takeaways:

• With legacy systems, only 57% of backups are successful and recover only 35% of data.
• If you are in retail, financial services, healthcare, and other industries, you’re a prime target for cybercriminals.
• But cybercrime isn’t the only threat to your data.
• To ensure business continuity during a disaster, you need a sound backup strategy, the right managed IT services partner, and continuous testing.

Worried you don’t have a good backup system for your data? Or maybe you haven’t even thought about it lately, figuring that you set something up some time ago, and that’s good enough. But it’s not. A 2021 study discovered if you have an older data backup system, only 57% of backups are successful, and while 61% of restoration attempts will succeed, complete data recovery only happens for about 35% of organizations.

Data backup is essential for every business as part of an overall cybersecurity strategy, but if you’re in healthcare, financial services, pharmaceuticals, retail, education, manufacturing, or technology, you’re a prime target for data thieves. And for small-to-medium-sized businesses, you’re especially vulnerable since you’re a target of about 43% of cyberattacks. 

In this article, we’ll go over what you risk without backing up your data regularly, the essentials of a good backup system, how to choose one, how to create a plan, and how to maintain it.

Why data backup is essential – know the risks

Data rules the business world, and its contribution to smooth, efficient operations, resilience, and competitive benefits can’t be denied. This data includes private customer information, intellectual property, financial information, and everything you need to keep your business running daily.     

Aside from being unable to run your business because you’ve lost your data, here’s what you risk when you don’t have the right backup system.

Reputational damage

You store customer, vendor, and employee data. When you somehow lose that information, you can expect a backlash that can crater your business reputation. They will all want to know what happened and if a cybercriminal accessed their data. A recent study found that 46% of organizations endured reputational damage after data loss. A tarnished reputation can lead to lost customers, leading to a sales loss that imperils future revenue.

Violation of data privacy regulations

You have a legal obligation to protect data with personally identifiable information. When you lose data – for whatever reason – it will be assumed you have mishandled this sensitive data. This means lawsuits from customers and regulatory compliance penalties, both of which result in the loss of huge amounts of money and will impact sales.

Loss of productivity

Another hit to your business bank account and reputation from data loss is that employee productivity takes a nosedive. This greatly impacts your business operations with major consequences for the bottom line. Employees must attempt to recreate the information they need, and because you’ve lost the information, you will need to make decisions without the necessary data. 

Increase in operational expenses

Those lawsuits will be coming, as will the regulatory fines. However, in the short-to-medium term, data loss leads to increased costs that impact profitability by making day-to-day operations more expensive. You may have to invest in data recovery services, and then there’s the cost of recreating your records if they can’t be recovered or only partially recovered. 

The bottom line is that data loss hurts your bottom line. It’s time to act before it’s too late.

What makes a good backup system?

You have choices regarding backup methods – tapes, servers, and cloud-based storage. Tapes are old-fashioned, but some companies still use them, citing their reliability and low cost. However, tape and server backups must be stored off-site, which makes them vulnerable to some of the same natural disasters, fires, floods, etc. that affect your hardware. This makes cloud backup services the most secure data storage option. 

Data backup is achieved via software that automatically, safely, and securely copies and saves your data to an external source. This is far superior to manual backups.

What makes a good backup plan?

Like everything else in business, data backup requires strategy.

1. Assess your risk. What are the issues that could potentially affect your business?
2. Perform a business impact analysis. How would your company be affected by a data loss?
3. What data is most important? The first step is to identify the most important data to your business continuity. 
4. How frequently should you backup? Some data may not need backup at all, while others may need to be continuously backed up. 
5. Choose a vendor and platform. The best data backup advice and platforms come from IT managed services providers with deep security expertise. 
6. Develop a schedule and make backups routine.

What about those built-in OS backup tools?

Windows and macOS both have built-in backup tools. Windows 10 and 11 have features for file history and full disk backup, while macOS uses Time Machine software. Both offer some cloud backup with iCloud and OneDrive. However, these options are not enough. What happens if something goes wrong with a computer? With separate backup software, information can be quickly accessed.

The advantages offered by backup software

Software that backs up your entire network is essential for data loss protection. With the average cost of downtime sitting at $427 per minute for small businesses and up to $9,000 for larger businesses, getting back up and running after a data loss is of primary importance.

• Security. With backup software, files are encrypted as they are backed up and as they are retrieved, protecting your data from bad actors. 

• Reduced management. Your backups are automated, so there’s no need to perform them manually.

• Easy recovery from disasters. When the worst happens, your files are safe and easily accessed, so you are back in business quickly. 

• Versioning. Backup software solutions have versioning capability to store multiple versions of files, and file history means you can track file changes. 

• Incremental and differential backups can be used to back up only new or changed files since the last backup instead of duplicating everything.

• Reliability. With reliable software expertly installed, you never have to worry about losing valuable data, no matter what happens.

 And, of course, since your backups are stored in the cloud, your files can be accessed at any time, from anywhere, and cloud backup solutions are infinitely scalable. Backup software offers protection in all environments, flexibility, and rapid recovery.

Testing and maintaining your backup system

Once you’ve chosen the best backup method and schedule for your backups, you should perform regular tests to make sure everything is running as it should. Automation makes this easy. Test several scenarios – restore a single file, folder, database, or your entire system. 

Integrity and usability also must be tested. Calculate and compare checksums of your backup files with original data. Test encryption and decryption, and review and update your backup plan as your business needs change. 

Training and educating your staff are essential, as your backup plan only works when clear roles and responsibilities are assigned, and staff is trained with the necessary skills. Creating a backup recovery guide is invaluable for outlining the steps and resource locations for recovery.

Now that you know the facts, are you still worried you don’t have a good backup system?

Your worry is justified. Backup done wrong is a recipe for disaster. Backup done right can save your business bacon. The keys are developing a proper strategy and partnering with a managed services provider with security expertise (because backups are an essential part of a robust cybersecurity program), deep software knowledge, and focusing on your business success.

Backups done right with a focus on cybersecurity and accessibility is a core service for Endsight, an award-winning managed IT services provider with two decades of experience. We provide complete technology support solutions to create optimal IT management and human-friendly technical support with experts who keep you ahead. 

We offer an honest partnership, commitment to your long-term success, and unparalleled, dependable service. It’s baked into our core values. Reach out today.

That built-in backup system in your Mac or Windows machines isn’t enough. Make sure your data is secure and accessible with Endsight. Your data is your most essential business asset – don’t lose it all. Explore our award-winning security products and services. Reach out today.