Like it or not, securing your business data is now an essential business expense like marketing or employee salaries. Believe it or not, 93% of businesses file for bankruptcy within a year after a major data loss event.
Fortunately, there are ways to protect your business from disaster. Let’s talk about some common mistakes businesses make when securing their data and offer some data backup options for your enterprise!
1. Not Having a Data Backup Plan
The biggest mistake by far is to assume that you have cloud storage or some other tool to back up your data, therefore you don’t need a plan. In today’s business world, your company is only as valuable as its data. If you aren’t protecting it from every angle, then you are courting disaster.
Did you know that 60% of businesses fail after one data breach? We’re not trying to scare you, but imagine what would happen if you lost all of its data. Could your business recover?
Consequently, businesses of all sizes need to have a plan in place for backing up and restoring their data in the event of a failed system or data breach. Hindsight will not help in this case.
2. Not Having a Recovery Plan
Focusing too much on the backup and not the recovery is setting yourself up for disaster. You need the ability to quickly recover and restore failed systems and lost data in the event of a failed system. That’s the whole point of your backup and recovery plan.
We recommend having a cloud-based storage solution that can recover your data within hours at the latest. Otherwise, a failed system could potentially put you out of business for weeks at a time.
3. Keeping All Data On-Site
What if there were a flood, fire, or collapse at your business location while you were away? What if someone walked right in and took all of your hard drives? Could your company recover its data after such an event?
If the answer is no, then that’s a common mistake. It’s essential to secure your data with cloud backup or something similar. Spreading your eggs across multiple baskets is the safest way to secure your data.
4. Neglecting Your Stored Data
Implementing a data backup and recovery plan does not guarantee the security of your data. Instead, you need to actively manage this data over time.
Otherwise, there are two possible outcomes. The first is that nothing ever happens to your data and, when it’s time for recovery, you have a mess of unstructured data that’s nearly impossible to configure. That’s the best-case scenario.
The alternative is that the system fails or receives a breach. To prevent this, the best option is to contact a managed services provider (MSP) to manage your backup and recovery plan.
Keep Your Data Secure
Now that you know some common data backup mistakes, don’t fall for the same ones as other businesses. Again, your business is only as secure as its data, so it’s essential to store all of your essential information and have a plan in place to recover it at a moment’s notice.
Stay up to date with our latest tips for your business, and don’t hesitate to contact us with any questions or for help with your data needs!