Backup Disaster Recovery (BDR)

Backup Disaster Recovery (BDR) is something all businesses need in case of disaster. It can be a natural disaster such as an earthquake, a minor disaster like a hardware failure, or possibly an attack from a hacker. Any one of these could shut down your business if you aren’t prepared or have a proper backup plan. Are you still backing up data manually on tapes or perhaps — cringe — not at all? 

First of all, a data disaster is more common than you might think. Currently, 58% of small business (SMBs) are not prepared for data loss. Even worse, 60% of SMBs that lose their data or experience a breach, will shut down within six months of the event. Something that is preventable can wreck your business and livelihood. It would be a shame to have human error or a simple mishap put your company out of business. It’s especially scary when 29% of hard drive failures are caused by accidents. Here are some main reasons why you need a BDR solution and should be prepared for potential disasters.

Human Error

You have security in place and train your employees so they are well-versed on avoiding malware. Well done! But, you’re still not completely protected. Human error is a large culprit in data loss. It could be deleting items or accidentally overwriting data, but these “oops” moments can hit hard. Human error can also be the cause of other failures, like damage from a spill or even accidental reformatting. All these types of accidents happened to many small businesses before you. Sometimes recovery is possible from the software platform you were using or maybe your computer has your back and caught these things. It’s still time-consuming and money wasting to fix, even if you are lucky enough to recover some of what you lost.

Cyber-Attacks

Viruses and malware can cause significant software or hardware damage depending on what kind of bug found its way in. Worse yet, you could be the victim of ransomware. This usually can be prevented by having a next generation firewall which protects against malicious attacks and cybersecurity training. Yet another predator in the night is social engineering – the art of conning people. Hackers have been known to get into server rooms and other data-centric areas of the business. Employees may not even notice their mistake until it’s too late. I guess the “HVAC guy” turned out to be a hacker in disguise.

Corrupt Data

Sometimes software corruption can come from unknown viruses lurking around inside your computer. But most of the time it is due to improper usage, such as not shutting down the computer properly or leaving unsaved documents open. Occasionally, even a power outage can trigger corruption. Once software processes are interrupted and damaged, it’s virtually impossible to recover data stored in the software.

Hardware Failure

Did you know that 140,000 hard drives crash every week? With that kind of number, it’s only a matter of time until it happens to you. That is not a comfortable position to be in if you know you don’t have backup. Unfortunately, hard drive failure is usually due to mechanical issues. Things like age and dust build-up can cause technology to fail. You know that old laptop that’s been on its deathbed, freezing every time you start it, taking forever to load a webpage, and of course, acting as a heater for your lap or desk. All these things are tell-tale signs leading to a crash. Of course, you may not care if it’s an old hand-me-down laptop from the ’90s. We’ll bet you will care when it’s your business systems with your product data and client information stored on it.

Natural Disasters

Finally, we come to good old-fashioned acts of God. You can’t always know when a natural disaster will happen. You should have an automated process so that when you recover from that earthquake, your data is still available and saved up to that point. This type of event highlights that on-site BDRs are only one part of your business disaster recovery solution. You want to consider an off-site or cloud data storage, so your data is safe even if your local systems are destroyed.

Protect your business and keep it running smoothly and successfully. Backup Disaster Recovery options are available for all kinds of SMBs and their needs. Don’t wait and be taught a lesson by the “big one” (as most California residents say). Protect your important data and enjoy the peace of mind that comes along with it. You’ve worked too hard to get your business where it is. Protect your hard work.