Personal Assurances are Worthless!
Is your business data being backed-up? Are you sure?
Before you stop reading this article… Is your confidence based on evidence or personal assurances?
Key Points
- If your data is unprotected, so is your business
- Shocking News: IT negligence and egos are key reasons behind data loss
- Testing is the only SAFE way to guarantee your backup is working
- How to scare your Backup Provider
- itro SBR guarantees your data stays available
Negligence and Egos
See, personal assurance is a problem… 9 out of 10 new sites itro engineers visit discover they don’t have a working solution, or what they thought they had doesn’t even exist! Why?
A lesson in Data Backup-101: All business data should be saved in three locations: the device it was created on, onsite, and offsite. No excuses! Then, if data gets lost, “no worries, another copy exists in your local storage device and another copy in the cloud.”
But, most backup problems only get exposed when data is lost! So, why the systemic failure in Australian businesses to test their backup solutions? Firstly, denial of risk! “When you realise 41% of Australian businesses (still) have no cyber security, it isn’t surprising they’re targeted…” (Oct 12, 2018, cyber.gov.au)
Secondly, IT arrogance (“don’t you think we know what we’re doing?”), negligence (“uh, I thought it was working…”) and, occasionally, because setup was beyond an installer’s skill set – whether they realised/admitted it, or not.
Personal assurances are valueless. Theft, malicious or accidental deletion is the most common way a business finds out their data backup was not working.
If the person or Provider who manages your backup hasn’t demonstrated a successful restore, recently, request they do one ASAP! But before you do, it’s time to learn two HOT TECH TIPS to test your Provider’s skill and guarantee you get foolproof results…
HOT TECH TIP 1: Backup assessments can be difficult because egos are at stake
No one likes to be challenged! Asking for a test restore is doing just that to your internal IT or external Provider. Be calm, sit tight, accept no excuses and keep asking for a restore until you get one. Or start looking for a new Provider!
Remember, personal assurances are worthless! IMP: you need to ask for specific test results…
HOT TECH TIP 2: Foolproof way to prove your backup works…
Tell your IT provider or internal team to restore a selection of files under specific parameters:
- ask them to restore a previous version of a Word or Excel file that you have not edited in three (3) months ago; and
- ask them to restore a month-old file from a cloud or third-party app, like QuickBooks or MYOB.
Why? Because simply restoring a Word or Excel file created a couple of days prior should be an easy restore if your system has been set up correctly. Such a recovery will likely not involve your Backup system and is therefore not a thorough test.
Need an independent Assessment?
If you don’t have the time, in-house skills or confidence in your existing Provider to assess your current backup, please give itro a call on 1800 10 3000 or email us at [email protected] so we can manage it for you.
Thinking of changing IT Providers?
We understand changing IT Providers is a big decision! That’s why we’ve given you tips to help manage your existing IT relationship. But if you’re looking to change Providers, please call us so we can take immediate steps to protect and secure your data with itro SBR.
itro SBR (Secure Backup Recovery) is a straight-forward DR & Backup Solution designed for Legal Professionals and internal IT Managers who want someone else to bear the responsibility of guaranteeing data security. It gives your business or Firm two layers of backup protection:
- Onsite backup for quick recovery under most circumstances and;
- Offsite storage of your data for recovery in a disaster.
And, of course, one to three months after install we will undertake a data restore to prove your new itro SBR solution is working.
Regardless of what you decide to do now, please test your backup solution and make sure it’s working! That alone makes the time taken to write this article worthwhile!