When we talk about data backup and recovery, we aren’t referring to business continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR). Data backup and recovery deal with backing up files, emails, and databases. BCDR includes the processes, plans, and procedures to do in case of various types of emergencies.
At the file, email, and database level, this process starts with the initial replication of all your company’s data. This includes all the files, emails, and databases on all your workstations, network storage appliances, and servers. After this initial full backup, subsequent ones only contain data that has changed since the previous version. This results in time, storage, and bandwidth savings compared to regularly running full backups.
Is It Possible to Lose Data Using Cloud Backups?
In short, yes. Data in the cloud is still on hardware that can fail and in data centers that can mismanage. Usually, simple problems like an employee accidentally deleting a file from cloud storage happen but, after a set period, those files are removed from cloud storage recycle bins and are lost forever.
Rather than just assuming “the cloud” is safe, it’s best to employ cloud-to-cloud backup solutions. A product like Datto will backup and store your current cloud data and another cloud server, a.k.a double-redundancy.
How to Support Your Data Backup and Recovery Process
Internet/email/data protocols
First, policies and protocols to dictate behavior regarding your company’s networks, emails, and data will reduce the likelihood of abuse. This in turn will lower the likelihood of theft, malware infection, and other dangers to your data.
Employee training programs
Second, most employees will not understand standard data backup and recovery protocols, so we suggest training programs. Training should be conducted for new employees and updates whenever changes occur to your organization’s data process.
Backup & Recovery Testing
Finally, policies related to this subject should state the frequency of your data’s backup and recovery testing. These should at least occur on a quarterly basis.
A good practice is to review policy on an annual basis so that they are up to date in modern data backup and recovery practices. If you’re too busy to dedicate appropriate time to these tasks, a good MSP will be able to make these assessments and present them. If your organization lacks the resources to handle IT projects or simply needs additional resources, consider our Managed IT services.