It's easy to think of backup as simply storing copies of your data and files. Whilst this is a key factor, it's also important to consider what happens when this data needs to be restored and accessed in the future.
Due to their size and power, larger businesses and corporations usually have an efficient backup system that performs to their specific needs. However, smaller and even mid-sized companies can sometimes fall behind and struggle to find the time to implement an optimal backup strategy - especially with the continuously changing face of technology.
Here are a few tips to boost your backup, whatever stage your organisation's strategy is at.
Prioritise backup efficiency
Slow file restoration time is usually the tell-tale sign of backup inefficiency. Often, the issue lies with having implemented a solution that doesn't cater to the exact needs of the business or having a plan that lacks the detail and granularity required for optimum efficiency.
Therefore, it's important to switch to a recovery process that isn't simply based around just getting everything up and running regardless of system intricacies. Instead, it's best to draw up a more detailed and sophisticated plan around specific systems, applications and data - which will then help get the business back up and running quickly and efficiently.
A backup product that integrates directly into these existing systems will aid the process greatly, as every integration point helps improve efficiency, organisation and, ultimately, productivity.
Be predictable
Using consistent backup processes and testing frequently using a standard testing procedure will give reassurance that backups have been run and tested properly. This will mean far fewer issues should a recovery situation arise.
Having documented processes that can be repeated easily across your business will reduce your response time, lower your support costs, and ultimately minimise downtime.
Following the 3-2-1 backup rule is a good approach: keep at least three copies of a data set, store backup copies on at least two different media and keep one of the backup copies off-site.
Think of backup as a daily practice
In a Solarwinds MSP survey, 32% of respondents admitted to not carrying out daily backups. Yet in the event of a serious crash, days or weeks of data could be lost.
Backup is not just extra copies of data. The real goal is disaster recovery. If backups are performed regularly, it will dramatically cut down on recovery times in the event of an incident, as it will be easier to locate exactly which backup will address the data loss incident.
The underlying theme is about changing the way your business approaches backup. By using simple and structured service offerings, running repeatable and consistent backup jobs and using integrated solutions, you can make significant improvements to your organisation's backup processes.
Don't assume you're covered
Organisations are increasingly utilising SaaS productivity suites such as Office 365 and Google Drive to manage their workflows. While these applications offer a range of benefits from collaboration to efficiency gains, they harbour a secret: they don’t backup your data, going against the common assumption that they’ve got you covered.
How to choose a business continuity and disaster recovery solution
Cloud providers are able to protect data to an extent. Issues occurring on their side, such as disk failures or natural disasters, are covered, but they are unable to help with issues on the customers' side. Ransomware attacks or deletions by employees (either accidentally or maliciously) aren’t accounted for, meaning data-restoration would be very difficult.
As platforms, productivity suites are generally secure. But even still it’s worth looking into additional backup, as their backup specifications are often found to be lacking compared to the requirements of most organisations. For instance, Office 365 only operates a 14-day retention period, with Microsoft SharePoint Online only backed-up every 12 hours, creating a gaping window for potential loss.
It’s definitely worth your time to take backup into your own hands, at least to some extent. Backing up second copies of cloud data locally would permit efficient restoration in the occurrence of an incident on your side. It would also help align the business with compliance regulations, and internalise control in an increasingly unpredictable digital landscape.
Keep up to date with changes in backup technology
Backup isn't a new idea, but the danger of it being a familiar process is that it's easy to take things for granted. But even technologies as familiar as backup continue moving forward, and ways of doing it get better, easier, faster and less expensive. One example is cloud-first backup solutions, which are becoming a cost-effective way to store copies of data offsite and reduce local storage requirements.
Determine what needs saving
If anyone could imagine the perfect backup strategy, its scope of coverage would likely range from unlimited quantities of data to bytes hidden underneath software. However, this idealistic scenario is seldom attainable and, for many enterprises, it means that compromise is key.
You're likely aware that developing and sustaining second copies of every single piece of information is expensive and time-consuming. A common example of this is hard drives, which are most often weighed down by having to contain the device’s operating system as well as the program files chosen by the users. Neither really needs to be constantly backed up – in fact, they can often be re-installed from other sources.
If the chosen backup strategy doesn’t exclude this type of data, an amount which is likely to be large, if not exuberant, the receipt for this kind of service will be priced proportionally. Simply put, your company’s finance team might not be pleased.
This is why, in order to optimise a given backup strategy, it’s important to first sift through all the data, folders, and files, and categorise them based on how crucial they are to the functioning of the organisation. For instance, it's common for business assets that a company usually cannot afford to risk losing, including database and accounting files, to be backed up every day.
The second-most critical business assets, which can include anything from folders saved in 'Documents' to important email data, should be backed up at least once a week. Anything beyond this is usually up to the individual needs of the business, and should be decided based on what the company values most or is essential to its operations. In fact, a smaller volume of second copies can also make the recovery and restoration of lost files faster and easier.
