Written by Tory Brake
First off, what IS a backup? According to Wikipedia, “In information technology, a backup, or the process of backing up, refers to the copying into an archive file of computer data so it may be used to restore the original after a data loss event.” Okay, and recovery? “Data recovery is a process of salvaging (retrieving) inaccessible, lost, corrupted, damaged or formatted data from secondary storage, removable media or files, when the data stored in them cannot be accessed in a normal way. “ Both are great definitions in a nutshell.
So, now to the question at hand: are they essential to a business?
It’s a great question and definitely worth considering. In order to assess, let’s look at a few quick scenarios:
Company A has business productivity down to an art. They are quick, efficient, and because of that, very profitable. The computer systems are up to date and getting managed regularly. All of the most recent patches are applied and the newest versions of software are being used. All computers and systems are even under warranty. The only thing is, they don’t have any kind of a backup system. But is it really needed? They have one server onsite, but it is setup in a RAID for redundancy.
Then disaster strikes. Someone on the network gets infected with a crypto-virus. Before anyone can stop it, their entire computer systems are encrypted. Including their server. This is where a RAID would be useless. While some crypto-viruses have been cracked, many have not. So now Company A has three options:
- They can pay the required ransom and hope to get the encryption key in order to recover their files.
- They can start over on documents and files in hopes to be able to effectively recreate needed work.
- They can shut the doors and close down the business.
No option is a good one. But could this have been avoided? Yes! With backups in place that are checked regularly for integrity, all files, and even a full computer image could be setup and applied. Sometimes within hours. Not only would the business be saved, but loss of productivity would be kept to a minimum. Instead of having to close the business, they wouldn’t experience more than a few hours of inconvenience. In this instance a backup could have made a full recovery possible with little to no loss of data.
Company B is a small company that is trying to grow. They have established a presence in their market, but are putting more money into advertising than into technology. They realize how beneficial the tech can be, but are more focused on bringing in more customers. Because of this, their equipment isn’t the newest available. They don’t have all of the current updates or patches and aren’t running the newest versions of software. But they get by okay. They do not have a server.
Everything seems to be running smoothly. But without warning, the hard drive in the computer for the person that takes care of the payroll and paying the bills. Some limited information can be retrieved from emails. But not all. So now, time must be spent recreating documents, invoices, payroll, and scheduling among many other things. A lot of foot work must be done to keep things running and the lights turned on.
Preventable? Absolutely. While the hard drive crash may or may not have been avoided with astute monitoring, ALL files could have easily been restored to a new computer within a matter of minutes in some cases.
There are many other scenarios that can play out day to day, and do, for business all across the globe. Some are well prepared and equipped to deal with them. Others must cut their losses and just do the best they can. While some cannot deal with the blow and must shut down completely. There is a saying that, “an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure.” This absolutely applies to any businesses that utilize technology in any form! You are better to take the extra precaution and have it as “insurance” against things that could be devastating to your company. If it hurts your company, it also has a huge impact on those working for you. It even can have a trickledown effect for your customers and clients.
So to answer, Backup & Recover: Essential? YES!
Don’t be caught off guard or unprepared! If you would like to know more, you can contact Brake Designs, LLC via email at email@example.com. Or you can schedule a phone call with us for a FREE consultation.