Data is vital for a business’s success and survival. Without key insight on its customer base, metrics in their performance, or data on their staff, a business will struggle to operate effectively. In fact, for a lot of small businesses starting out, a loss of data in the form of a security breach or hacking attack has resulted in that business closing down simply because they’re unable to continue trading.
Keeping your data safe is of high importance for a business. Because of that, many businesses implement robust security features such as software like antivirus and firewalls, as well as cloud computing, which gives them access to encryption and VPNs. However, as well as these features, there’s another thing businesses can do to help protect their data, and that’s to back it up. Here are three reasons why you should regularly back up your business’s data.
Failure To Back Up Data Can Cost Money
Regularly backing up data is like an insurance policy for businesses. A loss of your network data can have a devastating effect on your finances as it might make your business unable to operate.
Any downtime means that a business isn’t being productive and isn’t making any profit, which can contribute to a huge loss in finance if the issue isn’t resolved quickly. This is why backing up data is important because key files can be accessed another way and the business can continue as normal with minimal downtime. It’s vital to back up your data on different storage mediums so that you have options. For example, if you usually store data on the cloud and something happens that makes you unable to connect to it, as long as you’ve saved copies on an external hard drive, you’ll be able to continue.
Ransomware Can Seriously Hurt Your Business
Ransomware is perhaps the most sinister of malware, as it has the ability to completely shut down your organization. Ransomware is a type of software that infiltrates your computer network, usually through phishing emails. Using encryption, the software can then lock away your files and data on a network, leaving your hardware inoperable. The programmers of the ransomware then demand a ransom – usually in the cryptocurrency bitcoin – in exchange for opening up your files.
It can be tempting to give in and pay to be able to continue working and minimize the loss of money, but this isn’t recommended as they may keep the devices locked even after you’ve submitted to their demands. To best prepare for ransomware attacks, it’s important to back up your data on separate storage mediums, such as on the cloud, which avepoint.com provides, so that you can get back on track without paying the ransom.
Natural Disasters Can Put You Out Of Business
Statistics show that 40% of businesses fail to open after suffering a natural disaster, such as a flood, fire, earthquake or hurricane. The main reason for this is because many of these businesses have failed to back up their data – the disaster destroyed all their information and they have to start from scratch again.
To have a better chance of your business surviving after such a major setback, it’s critical that you back up your data regularly. The more frequently you do so improves your chances of starting back up when normality resumes. It is best to daily back up key data which is regularly updated and other items at least every fortnight, so that you have strong foundation to continue on.
