The Challenge

Backing up your data and the ability to quickly and fully recover it in the event of a natural disaster or ransomware attack is critical to the stability of your company. If malware damaged your server beyond repair or a ransomware attack hit you, and all of your files were locked, corrupted, or erased, how fast could you get back up and running again?

And it doesn’t end there. You may still experience data loss even while backing up your server. Most business owners know that it is crucial to backup their server(s). But they forget about their desktops, laptops, and Macs. Even if quite a bit of your data is stored on your servers and backed up on your network, your computers themselves may not be. Your icons, background, all of your settings, local files, the music and pictures you have stored, and all of your software applications are most likely not being backed up.

If your company’s computers were to crash, get a virus, or simply die, all of that information could be lost. The company data that you’ve saved to your server would still be there if you are saving everything to your server (a big if for many people), but everything else would be gone. You would have to recreate each computer by reloading all of the software and settings. And if you’ve ever had this happen to you, you know that it can take a significant amount of time to do, and time is money.

So, either at the macro (server) or micro (computer) level, having the appropriate backup system is crucial to keep your company running efficiently at all times.

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Our Recommendation

We recommend conducting an in-depth review of your current backup system.

  • Determine the data that is critical to your business so you can make sure you are indeed backing it up.
  • Guard yourself against the more sophisticated attacks we see today by putting a more robust, ransomware-proof backup system in place.
  • Review what data you have and its location. Unfortunately, it’s typical to find critical data on laptops and other devices that are not being properly backed up.
  • Identify the processes, such as payroll or client-facing services, that are crucial and cannot be down for an extended time.
  • Discover your tolerance for downtime. How long could you be without access to your server, files, e-mail, Internet, and other processes before it starts costing you real money?
  • What’s the plan for an actual disaster? What will you do if your team can’t get to your data because of a fire, flood, or natural disaster?

The End Goal

The purpose of these questions is to:

  1. Get an awareness of the risks and limitations of your current backup.
  2. Use your answers to map out a disaster recovery plan so you won’t have to face any unpleasant surprises should a disaster happen.
  3. Help you choose the disaster recovery system that fits your budget and priorities.

Next Steps

Not comfortable conducting your own review? BACS’s Disaster Recovery, Security, and Backup Audit will reveal how quickly your business could recover after a server crash, natural disaster, virus attack, or other data-erasing catastrophes. We make it easy for you not to push this “important, but not urgent” action item to the back burner.

Our Disaster Recovery, Security, and Backup Audit determines:

  • How fast could you recover if a disaster were to happen?
  • How secure is your data…really?
  • Are you backing up all your critical data every day?
  • Are you protected from hackers, viruses, and even simple mistakes?
  • Do you know what steps would be involved to rebuild your server and recover your data if you had to and how much they would cost?

If we don’t find any issues, you’ll have peace of mind about the security of your network and the fact that you would experience a quick recovery in the event of a disaster. But if we do find a few gaps, you’ll be able to fix them before you experience an unexpected catastrophe.

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The Most Common Reasons for a Server to Malfunction

Here are some of the most common reasons why the performance of a server geta affected or stops altogether.

  • Physical causes. Accidents such as falling from a rack, fire, or a flood can cause severe server issues.
  • Power supply failures. Missing power results in servers shutting down.
  • Hardware problems. Overheating can cause server failure.
  • Software problems. Database issues can result in servers malfunctioning.
  • External actions. External attacks or malware can also end up in a server going down.

How Can Backup Issues Harm You?

Even though it’s challenging to add up specific figures, backup issues have a real economic impact. The actual calculations depend on multiple factors, such as:

  1. Loss of sales. The server that supports the website’s cart is down.
  2. Service loss. Not being able to purchase from you will force prospects to buy from your competitors. And even worse, some of those people, disappointed by not being able to buy from you, might not try to do it again in the future.
  3. Productivity loss. If your team is unable to use the systems and programs they need, preventing them from working, productivity will decrease.
  4. Customer service issues. What if billing is down, affecting your customers, and having them worry about the security of their personal data?
  5. Reputation problems. A website or a billing system failure will not only affect you in the specific moment in which they occur, but they can convey a negative image of your company, with all the negative consequences that this may entail.

The biggest challenge BACS faces in protecting you (and other companies) is your thinking. Many business owners think like this:

  • these problems won’t happen to me,
  • our company is too small, or
  • we don’t have the kind of information a hacker wants.

Or they think that if it does happen to them, the damages won’t be significant. That may have held 10 to 20 years ago, but it does not hold today.

Act now, in partnership with us, to develop a disaster recovery plan that fits your budget and priorities. We are here to help.

Would You Like to Discuss IT Services For Your Business?

BACS Consulting Group is here to be your trusted team of technology professionals.

Jeremy Kushner BACS IT

I hope you enjoy reading this blog post.

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