Reasons Why Business Plan Must Include Regular Data Backups

Learn why businesses need to include data backup in their everyday business and how they could do it.

Fremont, CA: Every business needs data to support its operations, be it data of the customer, or data of user actions. One, not only must possess data, but must also possess the ability to analyze that data, and predict user behavior. Data directly influences a business’s decisions hence it is no brainer that data accessibility, integrity, and availability are extremely important. Is your business making sure of that? What if you suddenly lose all the data? Make sure you make data backups an integral part of your business plan today. And here is how you can do it:

1. Be ready for technical failures: Technical glitches and failures are unavoidable byproducts of technology. Even in today’s world, where development in data security is high, our computers and servers are vulnerable to malware, ransomware, and system failures. It is easy for hackers to steal or corrupt our data and wipe out our computers.

Security Boulevard reports have indicated that there have been nearly 200 million ransomware attacks in the world between July 2020 and September 2020, with the US reporting an increase of attacks by 139%. That's too massive to ignore. With the development in security measures, hackers are also becoming more advanced, hence it will be catastrophic to lose all data. Some incidents, like a break-in, or a natural disaster, are beyond our control. Hence it is necessary to have a backup during such cases.

2. Control the human element: One has to keep a check on all the factors related to data security, and one important aspect is the company’s manpower. A lot of times, the employees compromise data, either by mistake or intentionally with spiteful purposes. A lot of employees take their work home, and not to forget, nowadays, a lot of people are working from home.

An irksome employee is more prone to stealing, leaking, or deleting data. In such cases, backup data could not only save you from a massive disaster but also could be used as evidence to form a case.

3. Better prepared for emergencies: Another major advantage that backup data provides is that it allows for a quicker recovery in case of an emergency. In case of data loss due to the reasons mentioned above, one can quickly get the operations back to normal since the backup was already available. One can imagine how troublesome and hectic it otherwise would be to search for the lost data and try to retrieve it. Backup data lets us get back on our feet quickly to form a plan to avoid such accidents later.

4. Staying ready for surprise audits: The IRS has the right to audit our business whenever it desires, and it is wise to stay ready for such situations. We never know when we might need the year-old tax filings. The IRS needs the businesses to keep the tax records for at least three years. Unless a potential audit has passed, we must store the relevant documents. No having income and expense data during an audit is something that no one wants. Backup of financial data also lets us perform internal audits easily. One could compare current and previous performance metrics to gather important analytics that could help the company reshape its operations. 

5. Staying ahead of others: In case of a disaster, that affects almost every competitor in the market, having data backups will ensure that we are ahead of others. We would be less vulnerable to delayed resumption. At such times, having a data backup also means that we are the only business operating, which allows us to widen our reach to the whole market. There are great chances of customer migration in our favor. Letting your customers know about having data backups could also help us in gaining customer confidence.

Data backup must become a part of everyday operations, ensuring that a business is ready in case of emergencies. _n