One of the last things you want to deal with when running your business is lost or inaccessible data. Whether it’s private information about an employee or client or a spreadsheet containing important budgeting numbers, you don’t have the time or resources to make up for if these things were lost. So, how can you avoid this issue?
It all starts with properly managed data backups, which you can easily and efficiently operate from when needed. Let’s talk about these tools, what they do and why they’re essential to your business.
Before we jump in, we must note our bias. We are an MSP that offers these solutions, but we know we aren’t for everyone. This article aims to inform our readers, not sell to them.
Innovative recommends that your managed backups be one component of a larger business continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR) strategy. If you’re looking for more on that topic, be sure to check out our article from 2022. For the sake of today’s article, we will just focus on the third-party backup management side.
What are managed backups, and how do they work?
Managed backups are a core component of BCDR. Your data is regularly backed up and stored separately, either on-premise or in the cloud, and can be accessed in the event it gets lost. These backups can include snapshots of your data, which can be used to recreate the state of your systems at a specific point in time.
For example, let’s say you experience a power outage and a significant amount of data on your server is lost or temporarily unavailable. Through their managed backup solution, your MSP can restore that data using the most recent snapshot, minimizing data loss and helping you get back on track quickly so you can continue to do business.
Best Practices for Managed Backups
A good rule of thumb and best practice for managed backups follows the “3, 2, 1” approach.
3 – Copies of your data
2 – Locations
1 – Offsite location
By storing multiple copies of your business data in multiple locations, you help ensure that it is accessible. If all of your data is stored on-site or at one location, it increases the likelihood of it being completely lost in a disaster.
You can work with your MSP to set expectations to ensure your data is backed up where it needs to be, and your business can access it in a timely manner.
The Importance of Backing Up Your Data
The answer to this is pretty simple: downtime can lead to major losses for any business, whether it’s lost revenue and productivity or damaged reputation. Having access to a copy of your data can help significantly limit downtime.
The faster you can recover your data and resume normal operations, the better. However, managed backups are just one piece of the larger BCDR strategy and must be properly implemented and managed.
Why Your Data Backups Should Be Managed
Solutions are only going to be as effective as the people managing them. Managed backups aren’t something you can set and forget. Properly managed backups mean your MSP or IT partner regularly monitors, tests, and optimizes to ensure your data is always protected and can be restored quickly.
Using Innovative as an example, our Network Operations Center (NOC) includes a dedicated backup administrator. This role helps ensure good backup performance and quick troubleshooting when something requires attention. Our backup administrator configures and optimizes our BCDR solution so your business gets what it needs quickly and efficiently.
A Proactive Approach to Protecting Your Business
These solutions and ones like them aren’t going anywhere. Our world continues to leverage technology and devices to create and store data, which need protection. If you're looking for a way to safeguard your valuable business data and minimize downtime, an MSP might be right for you. Don’t hesitate to contact your current or prospective IT provider to discuss these topics so you can sleep more easily at night.
