Data backups may not be the most glamorous aspect of IT, but they are undeniably crucial. In fact, they have earned a spot in our list of the “Top 7 of the 7 Most Important IT Things You Have To Do Every Day.” Why? Well, let’s just say that neglecting to back up your data, assuming it’s being taken care of, or executing backup processes so poorly that they’re (almost) laughable, can lead to a catastrophic blow to your business. Picture a pack of hyperactive raccoons, fueled by Red Bull, wreaking havoc in a thrift store—that’s how bad it can get.
So brace yourself for a brief, passionate discussion on our top three data backup best practices. It may not be Demosthenes, but rest assured, it will provide valuable insights that you can put to immediate use.
But Momma, I Don’t Wanna Backup My Data (stamps foot)!
Yes, you do, precious, and you know it. Here are just four reasons:
| Four Reasons Why You Need To Back Up | |
| Reason | Why We Think This Is A Good Reason |
| Staying in business | Lose your data, and you might not be able to function. It may affect your sales, logistics, client base, or all of it. If you’re in a tight market, you may not survive. Boo hoo. |
| Minimizing downtime | If you suffer a regular ol’ business glitch, the length of your downtime will be inversely proportional to the regularity and loveliness of your backups. You do the math. |
| Staying compliant | Pretty much every IT regulatory framework, as well as common sense, requires a data backup strategy that’s carried out. |
| Sticking a thumb in the armpit of a ransomware jockey | If your hacker says, “Ha, I’ve got your data, so you can’t operate no more, loser,” you can reply, “Au contraire, I have a backup.” |
Hit Me With The Top Three Data Backup Best Practices
Because you’re super clever, you’ll already know the principles of data backup, so let’s head on into those best practices we keep banging on about.
- Automate Your Backups
Automation makes everything better, and this includes backing up your data. If you set your systems up to do it all for you:
- Remove human error from the equation. Automation remembers to do it, and, even better, it does it correctly. As long as you’ve got it all correctly configured. (Hint, we’ll help).
- It’s easier to take backups at weird times (e.g., 3 a.m.) or every 10.3 seconds, as well as during off-peak times when your IT infrastructure isn’t tied up so much. Backing up off-peak speeds the process up.
- It saves time and resources by releasing your people to work on more fun things.
- Secure Your Backups
With automation, you can add encryption to the backup process to improve data security, but there is more security best practices to remember:
- The location of at least one of your backups, whether physical or virtual, should be off-site. So if a bad, bad thing were to happen to your office, your backup would be safe.
- Practice the beautiful principle of least privilege, i.e., restrict access to your backups to those who need access for their job. This reduces the risk of unauthorized access.
- Test backups to make sure they work. There’s no point backing up if you can’t actually access or read the backup data.
- Decide for how long you’ll retain backups. Ancient data might be useless to you, but it’s data hanging around for someone else to steal and bathe in.
- Backup Regularly
How often you back up depends on what you do, what you need the data for, and its importance. Super-regular backup is an awesome idea if you always need to access up-to-date data. BONUS! It’s also good practice to keep multiple copies (well, at least two) of your data — an heir and a spare.
For data that’s more historical or not used regularly, you can afford to back up less often. Your IT strategy (you’ve got one, right?) is the oracle you should consult for data back regularity. In fact, backing up should take up a whole chunk of your IT strategy — it’s that important — and you’ll include where you’ll store your backups (in the cloud or elsewhere? Yes.)
Backing Up Sounds Reasonable But A Bit Of A Chore. Any Suggestions?
Why, yes, dear friend. Even with all the data backup best practices in place, there is a lot to decide about backups. Lots of backing up may not be necessary and can create a load on your IT system. Worse, backup storage costs can get so expensive that your legs drop off at night. But not backing up properly is a nightmare we can’t face right now. What we can do (and would love to do) is to make backing up easy, cost-effective, and streamlined. We can probably do this for you by Tuesday if you give us a call today. Unless today is Tuesday.
Ignition is Silicon Valley’s best (and friendliest) IT security, compliance, and support team. Contact us now – chatting about IT support and cybersecurity is our favorite thing to do!