Data backup procedures are an integral part of any disaster recovery plan. Here we are looking at a few guidelines to help save data during hazardous events and natural disaster that can affect your business.
1. Backup your data and systems frequently
If you are only backing-up your business data once a month or in the aftermath of a disaster, think again! Proactively backing-up data as often as possible – weekly, daily and hourly – and on multiple devices/environments ensures that you can safely access this data as a contingency if disaster strikes.
2. Automatically backup data in the cloud
If your current backup storage site is on local devices and on-premise servers, a major natural disaster affecting this physical infrastructure can result in catastrophic data loss. Consider a cloud backup platform for your most critical data when your business needs to operate on an emergency basis.
3. Inspect your network bandwidth and resources
You may have to rethink your IT infrastructure to accommodate frequent automatic backups (see above) and support the disaster recovery strategy. Cloud backups are generally more effective in terms of minimum downtime, high capacity, and affordable data storage costs.
4. Perform a business impact analysis (BIA)
A business impact analysis (BIA) can help identify the critical resources that need to be protected foremost. Consider increasing the backup frequency for vital and sensitive data and keep the usual backup schedules for less significant resources (also see above).
5. Review and update your data recovery objectives
It may be necessary to revisit critical metrics such as recovery point objective (RPO) and recovery time objective (RTO) to adjust to changing requirements in your data recovery plan. RPO is the maximum period tolerable in which data could be lost. RTO is the target time for the resumption of IT activities after a disaster occurs.
Periodically test your backup systems and update your backup and business continuity plans as often as needed. Your disaster recovery service should allow you to test recovery failover to restore normal operations.
Strategix offers complete business continuity and disaster recovery solutions to avoid data loss and the resulting impact on your business.
Contact STRATEGIX today at 087 802 0179 or email us at info@strategix.co.za for more information.
