The Importance of Having a Robust Backup & Disaster Recovery Strategy

Ever-advancing technology is giving IT an increasingly important role in daily business operations. But as technology gets smarter, cybercriminals get craftier and the need for more in-depth policies and procedures rises.

A Backup and Disaster Recovery (BDR) plan should be a solid part of your Cyber Security strategy. It’s not just about your data being backed up and safe – long delays and lost productivity are expensive and damaging for your business. When time is money, BDR is a business saving proposition.

Before we take a deeper look into why you need a BDR plan, let’s examine what it actually is.

What is Backup Disaster Recovery?

Backup

A backup is a physical or virtual copy of your data on another device or in another location. This could be in the form of an external hard drive or on separate storage in your data center either on-premise or in a separate location. We recommend using both physical servers and cloud backup, a practice called hybrid clouds, this way your data is saved in two different locations, should one be compromised.

Backups are your organisation’s best option for recovering from a ransomware attack or from a major data loss event, such as a fire in the data center.

Disaster Recovery (DR)

Disaster Recovery goes beyond having a backup. It means having a plan and technical solution in place that will keep the core components of your business functioning should the worst happen.

Disaster Recovery allows you to rebuild and run your entire IT system until your primary environment is back working. A backup strategy in partnership with the right approach to Disaster Recovery, managed by trusted and experienced people, means you will have your Business Continuity covered. This is where a Backup and Disaster Recovery solution comes in.

Backup and Disaster Recovery

BDR is a combination of data backup and disaster recovery solutions that work together to ensure a company’s business continuity. When time is money, this is potentially a business saving proposition. It means your company is protected, your data safeguarded and gives you a ‘bullet-proof’ business continuity plan that will allow you to sleep at night.

Watch our webinar on Backup & Disaster Recovery – The Art of Business Continuity

Why should you have a Backup and Disaster Recovery plan?

A business is built on data that is collected and earned over time. Often, the true worth of that data can only be fully realised when it is lost through disaster striking. A study by the British Chambers of Commerce discovered that 93% of businesses that had a data loss for over 10 days went bankrupt within a year, half file immediately.

Cyber-attacks can cause varying degrees of disruption such as loss of productivity or in extreme cases, complete loss of data, which can have devastating effects. 90% of all UK data breaches in 2019 were due to human error. Often, it is not as a direct result of the attack either – it can happen indirectly, through many things like a damaged relationship with a supplier or client.

An estimated 70% of cyber-attacks are specifically targeted towards small businesses, with almost half of small companies have already experienced a cyber-attack, but what does that really mean?

Losing IT capability due to technical, human or natural disasters for any length of time, means downtime for your staff which may have a devastating impact on your business. If you suffer data loss – including client data – you are losing one of the most important business assets you have. The critical nature of business data can be overlooked and often its importance is only realised when it’s too late.

We always recommend a layered approach to Cyber Security and business continuity planning, such as BDR, plays a key role in this.

What should be included in a Backup and Disaster Recovery plan?

A disaster recovery plan should state clearly how you will protect your business in the event of unplanned incidents. The plan should contain the strategies you will use to rapidly recover from any kind of disruption. This plan should be a written document, with clear steps about strategic measures you will take, and what resources are in place to help you take them.

Typically, your disaster recovery plan should include:

• Your objectives – what the plan is for.
• What it will cover – including locations and services.
• Incident response – what would trigger it?
• Disaster recovery procedures.
• Alternative work locations – if your normal site is unusable.
• Contacts – who you will need to tell internally and externally?
• Insurance – details of policies, numbers, emergency contacts.
• Plan review procedure – how often you will review this disaster recovery plan?

You also need to plan your strategy for backup. Decide what you need to backup, how long you need to keep it for and how often you need to back it up, then you will need to consider:

• How much data needs to be backed up?
• What kind of data needs to be backed up?
• What kind of infrastructure are you backing up from?
• What your budget is.
• How quickly do you need your data back?

There are many components to consider when designing an effective plan for recovery, which why we would recommend seeking help from an expert. At Netitude, we embrace the latest cloud-based solutions to keep our fully managed clients business data safe and secure, no matter what disruptive event may occur. If you would like security peace of mind, please get in touch with one of our experienced and friendly staff, today!