Backing up data is absolutely essential for every organisation. On a day-to-day basis you may give little thought to the backup process, simply assuming that it’s doing its job in the background. However, did you know that around 60% of backups are incomplete? Besides, as much as 50% of data restores end in failure, resulting in massive amounts of information being lost daily around the globe.
As you can see backup solutions can sometimes be clunky and inefficient, but there is still a huge demand for protecting data, which is why choosing a managed backup service is a critical decision for your organisation.
Backup is key to avoiding a potential nightmare
2017 was the worst year for data loss and breaches to date, with approximately 7.8 billion records compromised during the whole year. Malware such as the infamous WannaCry can have immediate and very serious implications for companies, especially for SMEs who may be especially susceptible to being hacked.
Losing data because of inadequate backups will have a ripple effect on your business. The initial downtime experienced will severely affect performance within the organisation as workers don’t have access to the information they need to perform their duties. Even after the issue has been resolved, reputational damages can linger as customers – and even stakeholders – lose faith in the company’s abilities to protect sensitive information.
The NHS experienced exactly this when over 864,000 patient documents went missing. The scandal had first been investigated when after the announcement that 702,000 documents had been misplaced, only to find that a further 162,000 were nowhere to be found. Costing over £4.3 million, the data loss highlighted precisely how important it is for data to be backed up and the severe and immediate threat that a loss of data can have.
Five essential requirements of a smart backup strategy
Having a smart backup strategy in place is the first step towards giving you peace of mind every day. Before you produce a winning strategy, there are several requirements that you need to consider.
These 5 elements are imperative to the success of your backup:
Speed & Efficiency
Security
Scalability
Comprehensive
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Benefits of a managed backup solution
Having a managed backup solution means that your data is backed frequently, and efficiently. This will have a number of benefits for you and your company. First off, it will reduce your costs. How exactly? With your data being constantly stored, you will need less space than you would normally, this means that you will require less bandwidth and will in turn save yourself a lot of money every year.
You will also be able to improve the level of productivity within your company – especially if you experience a situation where your data is compromised. The fact that your information is constantly being backed up means that you will be able to get everything up and running extremely fast during a downtime. This will also save your company’s reputation in the eyes of your customers too.
The results of a managed backup are also very simple to measure and can be easily translated into the report form, should the need arise to do so. You can effectively measure over time the amount of data that is being stored, where it’s being stored and the success rate of the storage process.
24/7 support is one of the main benefits of managed backup. Rest assured that there will always be someone available should any issues regarding your data arise. With managed backup, a team is constantly monitoring and managing what is happening to your data, so you don’t have to.
Your business runs on data – protect it now!
Smart Technology offers a fully customised smart backup solution that has a number of very attractive features and full flexibility of what you would like to do with your data. What’s more, Smart Technology’s solutions are fully compliant with GDPR, meaning your customers’ data is in good hands.