3 REASONS MERELY BACKING UP YOUR DATA IS NOT A COMPREHENSIVE BACKUP/DISASTER RECOVERY PLAN

You’ll remember from the previous post that there’s a critical difference between a backup plan and a comprehensive backup/disaster recovery plan. Unfortunately, too many businesses have gone under after making the mistake of thinking a backup plan is enough to get them through a disaster. Don’t let it be you and understand why merely backing up your data is not a comprehensive Backup/Disaster Recovery Plan.

1. In the unfortunate event that a disaster strikes and claims your business or office it would take considerable time to purchase new servers and workstations, provision them, and restore data. Time would be your main enemy and customers will move on quickly.

2. Servers are complicated. When an old server breaks down or becomes totally inoperable, data saved onto external drives or to the Cloud cannot just be loaded onto the brand new server. The new hardware and software environments are completely different and often do not easily support restoration from older equipment. Having backed-up data does not guarantee a quick recovery. Simply backing up your data isn’t enough.

3. Success also depends on the viability of the backed-up data. Backed-up data needs to be tested to make sure that the files are not corrupt. Even with new hardware and software, if the backed-up data is unusable and cannot be restored, the organisation would suffer.

Backing up data is one critical component of Disaster Recovery, however it is not a replacement for a Comprehensive Disaster Recovery plan. Don’t make the same mistake that has sent many businesses under. Develop a comprehensive Disaster Recovery Plan for your business that will enable you to pick up quickly and maintain business continuity so a natural or tech disaster doesn’t end up spelling ‘disaster’ for your business too.