Why you need to schedule your backups

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As the spate of ransomware attacks and other catastrophes of recent years have proven, not all businesses are adequately prepared for data loss. It’s not so much a question of if disaster will strike, but when — and you need to be prepared when it does. Fortunately, with a myriad of backup and disaster recovery solutions available — and given the resilience of these — it’s a lot easier to ensure business continuity even through the most severe and unexpected of events. It all starts with scheduling backups.

By scheduling your backups and formulating a clear strategy for disaster recovery, your business stands to gain a host of benefits. Here are several reasons why you need a scheduled backup plan.

1. 1. Minimize business disruption

One of the biggest challenges facing business continuity is the sheer volume of the data that needs to be backed up. Businesses are, on average, doubling the amount of data they create every two years. Keeping everything safely backed up in an off-site location consumes a large amount of bandwidth, which can quickly slow your internet connection to a crawl. Scheduling your backups to happen outside of office hours will minimize this disruption.

1. 1. Restore valuable business data

Some data is very time-sensitive, in which case restricting your backup schedules to happen at night might not be good enough. That’s why it’s important to prioritize backup and recovery operations to ensure an optimal balance between risk and performance. You should schedule backups on a per-system basis, with the most important and time-sensitive data being backed up regularly, such as every hour. This is also one of the major benefits of working with cloud-hosted apps and storage, since data is often synchronized in real time with minimal impact on performance.

1. 1. Ensure compliance with regulations

Industry-specific regulations often make it compulsory for companies to store certain records for a minimum period of time. For example, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) requires healthcare facilities to retain patient health records for at least six years. Tax records must be retained by companies across all industries for at least three years. Scheduling backups ensure your records are automatically kept safe, thus reducing the risk of legal recourse later on for failing to comply.

1. 1. Reduce the burden on employees

A few decades ago, backing up data was a manual process that involved operations like copying files from a local machine onto removable media before locking it away in a safe. Processes like these can take a lot of time, and there’s a risk of human error.

Fortunately, most of today’s backup and disaster recovery platforms are highly automated and require minimal input from employees. Scheduling backups to take place automatically helps you and your team focus on primary tasks with the peace of mind of knowing that their work is kept safe. Once you’ve created a backup strategy and a way to automate and enforce it, you’ll only need to review it on occasion to apply any necessary updates.

1. 1. Maintain visibility into your backups

Automated backup solutions provide full visibility into your backup and disaster recovery. You’ll always know exactly where your data is physically stored, which security controls are in place to protect it, and how current your archives are. This is important, since it will help ensure your archives are compliant with internal and industry standards and protected against attackers. Having complete visibility into your backup processes also helps ensure a smooth recovery operation if things do go wrong.

Online Computers helps you prepare your business for unpredictable events with backup and disaster recovery services you can count on. Get in touch today to talk about your technology needs.

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