Is a data backup your only form of protection in an emergency situation? A data backup alone is not enough – you need a comprehensive Business Continuity plan.
Unexpected emergencies pose serious risks to businesses of any size. Without thorough and effective planning, a severe storm or power outage could put your company at risk of financial losses, reputational damage or worse. A robust data backup solution tends to be the best — and often, only — way for a business to prepare for emergency situations, but without the right expertise, how can you be sure that you aren’t still at risk?
It’s important to take note of the fact that these backups are not enough to support your business in the event of a worst-case scenario. Contrary to what you might believe, the terms data backup and Business Continuity are not interchangeable. Rather, data backups are just one part of a Business Continuity solution.
Disasters happen, and they happen much more often than you realise. Data loss — or the threat of data loss — is a common occurrence for businesses of all sizes, with 45% of these incidents caused by human error, 45% by server failure, and 50% by network outages. How you prepare to deal with one of these incidents can mean the difference between business as usual, and costly downtime.
Of course, it’s not just data loss you need to be wary of. Without Business Continuity, more than your data is in jeopardy. A security incident that disrupts your access to your important data can cause a chain reaction, impacting productivity, profitability, and your ability to see to client needs.
Business Continuity tests each backup to ensure there is never any question of whether or not your solution is working the way that it should, and there are no nasty surprises waiting for you when you need to rely on your data backups.
Another advantage of Business Continuity is its failover capabilities. Most tape backups are stored in a single location, leaving your data vulnerable to any number of issues that can impact that data storage site. Even cloud-based backups pose a similar risk when they’re your only backup source. If, for example, your systems are functional, but your network is down, you won’t be able to access your cloud-hosted backup until connectivity is restored.
Only a Hybrid Cloud Solution guarantees complete uptime for your business. You have the option of either a complete virtual restore of your systems and data, either in your offices or a temporary secondary location depending on the circumstances, or a local restore from physical on-premise servers. Traditional backups can’t offer that level of flexibility.
Traditional backups also may not be secure. Backups managed and stored locally are vulnerable to corruption and theft – both digital and physical. End-to-end encryption is a core part of Business Continuity and protects data both in transit and in the cloud. No matter where your data or where it’s going, it’s protected against unauthorised use.
Your data is your business’ most valuable asset. Without it, your operations are left at a standstill. The chances that your business could suffer catastrophic data loss and manage to recover without a reliable and well-tested Business Continuity solution in place are very slim. Businesses who aren’t able to recover fully – and quickly – often face permanent closure within months of a data loss incident. Are you willing to take that risk?
Business Continuity means more than just a data backup – it means keeping your business running no matter what. For more information, reach out to Steadfast Solutions at 1300 739 335 or send us an email at hello@steadfastsolutions.com.au.
