Picture the sheer horror of the following scenario to a business owner: You arrive at work to be told that your IT system has gone down and that all the data may be lost? You ask your in company IT specialist how long it will take to restore the back up and you are told the backup has also failed and all of a sudden the sheer horror of the situation sinks home as you realise have lost your entire businesses data .
IT is the lifeblood of any organisation and those who fail to take the correct steps to protect it do so at their peril. Loss of data is a major threat to businesses of all sizes – from single desktop operations to multi-networked concerns.
Any IT solution should not be restricted to the basics like computer repair, network and computer support , but should also take into account business continuity planning.
The sad fact is that nobody can predict if a business or a consumer is likely to suffer from a data loss emergency, but there are a number of areas that are generally prone potential problems which could arise from a basic electrical power surge, electronic or mechanical failure or even a sabotage attempt by a disgruntled employee. You also have to consider acts of nature i.e floods, storms or even natural disasters depending on your locality.
In recent years companies with foresight have invested in tape back-up systems, where all important data has been copied to tape, usually each night. But even some of those have fallen victim to theft, loss or tape failure. Fortunately technology has moved on and companies wishing to ensure the best possible protection have taken advantage of IT specialists offering the ultimate solution – offsite data back-up to remote, highly secure servers.
This then leads to the need for far more expensive data recovery or raid data recovery as a method of hopefully retrieving vital data.
Many companies are now investing in remote data backup models as part of their business continuity strategy as these have a number of significant advantages.
For example, if your server or building was damaged by flood or fire and you needed to vacate the premises, even if your back up tapes were available (many companies do not even keep an offsite version) you would still need to source a suitable drive and donor server to restore them. Back up data store on remote servers and data centers will allow you access to your data even if you have to set up in a temporary office.
If you have not yet implemented a disaster recovery plan for your business then you should put this high on your business agenda. Could your business survive if it were to lose all the client records on your CRM system or financial data from your accounts package. Don’t forget the cost is not purely the loss of data but also the lost business that may ensue as well as the time and resource to get things back on track.
And of course on a final note, once you have implemented a business continuity plan make sure you test it to make sure the plan is robust in a real environment.
