You may be tempted to think that a business backup strategy is only for large companies. You would be mistaken. It is crucial for a small business to have a backup strategy should a disaster strike and they lose their important office data and systems. A small business can’t afford the setback a loss like this would release.
If your business systems are down, you aren’t making money. Customers expect you to always be available. For a small business, customer loyalty is essential. Without a backup plan, it will take a small business much longer to rebuild the data or system that was lost. Putting your business operations back to the level they were at before the disaster could take a lot of labor costs. You’re left with a lot of lost time where you could’ve been growing your business.
Proper data protection is essential for any growing business. Business data protection has a lot of components that work together to create recovery processes.
Small Business Backup and Disaster Recovery
Now that you know why you need a backup plan, we are going to dive into how to form a business backup strategy for your office solutions. Before we do that, it is good to have an idea of what you are protecting against. Are you worried about files being deleted? A loss of location? Natural disasters? A cyberattack? It is hard to predict the future, but having an idea of what type of disasters you could be up against, will help you ensure your backup plan is sound.
Where to Store Your Backup
There are a few storage options for your long-term storage. You can store your backup on the premises or in cloud storage. Hybrid-cloud backups allow you to sync in both places increasing the chances of a full recovery from a disaster.
Back-Up Methods
Proper back-up strategy and business backup software are essential for business continuity. You will either use file-level backups or image-level backups. File level is ideal for backing up files on your file server. Image-based backups are used when you are protecting an entire system at once. They also give you quick recoveries with a continuous recovery model. This is where a restore of each backup is performed when you create the backup.
Recovery Goals
For everything that you want to recover, you need to know what that will look like so you can make sure you get the details right to achieve your recovery goals. A recovery time objective is how much time you will take to recover. Recovery point objective is the amount of data that was lost. Then you should establish the maximum amount of time (should you miss your first objective) that can pass before your business is struggling.
Creating the Plan
A business continuity specialist ensures critical business operations are not severely impacted by a disaster that can take critical business systems offline. Your entire continuity strategy is what keeps your company operating during a crisis. Ongoing continuity planning with business continuity experts gives you a plan that works. Avoiding disaster is always plan A, but having a plan B for business continuity solutions is essential for disaster recovery purposes.
Having a backup system is not enough. You need to also have a backup strategy. First, you need to lay out the essential data sets and which disasters you are protecting them against. You can then find where these two items clash and come up with protection and solutions.
You need to have the means for backup for each data set. You can then outline the steps to restore the file sets should a disaster strike. When issues come up you are ready to spring into action.
Without a backup business plan, you don’t have the organization for efficient efforts. The quicker you get your operations up and running again, the less money you lose. A quality strategy has the capability to keep you right on schedule.
How Often Should You Back-up Your Data
Backup solutions should allow you to customize the frequency for different types of data. There are a range of options. Large volumes of sensitive data need to be backed up every few minutes. Smaller businesses may only need backups once a day.
Strategies to Prevent Data Loss
Set company strategies that prevent the most common disasters from happening. Your employees should know exactly how to handle an email from an unknown sender. You can also limit access to folders so employees only have access to what they need.
Take the time to train employees on company security. Create a culture around data security. Remind employees of the risks of data loss with cyberattacks. Show them how these situations happen and how they can be prevented. Financial records and customer records are a target for many hackers, and business owners need to update their security procedures on a regular basis.
Assess the success of your plan so that you can be proactive if any areas need improvement. A good backup strategy is not solely based on great technology. There needs to be a plan for all humans involved. Technology cannot make up for a human error.
Backup and Disaster Recovery Services
If this is sounding complicated, you might be wondering if a business back-up plan is something you should do on your own. iTernal Networks provide backup and disaster recovery services so you can take the load off your shoulders. A disaster recovery solution from experts will take your storage strategy to the next level.
Backup services provide you with the following office solutions:
- get you easy access to your data backups
- ensure backup servers are automatic throughout the day
- provide backups to any number of local storage devices
- identify and troubleshoot problems before implementing across your network
- secure your critical files with the best encryption systems
- store your offsite backups in the most securely rated data centers
- get your offsite copy of your infrastructure to you in minutes
Disasters happen. A disaster recovery plan will give you peace of mind and solutions that you will use many times. Storage technologies give you customizable methods to create a plan that works for your company. iTernal Networks is a trusted source for backup and disaster recovery services. We would love to create a custom comprehensive business backup plan for your business. A small business can be fragile, make sure it is protected so that it can thrive and grow with business goals.
