55.7% Of Atlanta Businesses Backup Plans Are Out Of Date

Can The Data Be Recovered?

Have you ever grabbed a can of soup out of your cupboard at home to make yourself some lunch only to discover that it’s “best before” date had passed a month ago?

We’ve all had the experience, I’m sure.

So what kind of person are you?

Are you the “stay on the safe side” kind of person that throws out the can and switches plans for lunch?

Or are you the “it’s not a problem” kind of person that throws caution to the wind and makes up the soup to eat anyway?

No judgment here.

It’s just soup.

But what happens if it’s more than a little food poisoning at stake?

What if it’s the data that your business relies on in order to function?

If your data storage solution is past it’s “best before” date, you could be in for an expensive surprise when you go to use those files one day.

Why?

Well, your documents, spreadsheets, and databases are all made up of a complex string of ones and zeros. If your data storage system is out of date, the possibility of the files becoming corrupted escalates dramatically.

Here’s the question.

How confident are you that your data is safely stored and can be recovered in a usable state?

According to the most recent available figures, 55.7% of Atlanta businesses may be at risk because their business backup systems are out of date.

That’s scary.

Today’s businesses are not like the companies of the past that could operate from photocopied notes off the boss’s daily calendar.

We live in an interconnected, information-fueled economy.

If you don’t have verifiable access to your company’s backups, you better hope that your operational data doesn’t become compromised.

What could compromise operational data? – A whole lot of scenarios.

• Ransomware
• Hackers
• Fire
• Flood
• Storm
• Power Surge
• Criminal Activity
• Human Error

There’s more that could negatively impact your operational data than many business owners assume.

So, what’s the answer?

Atlanta Companies Must Invest in Up-To-Date Business Backup Plans

Managed IT Services companies, such as Centerpoint IT, make IT simple for you by providing backup plans that are:

• Managed – Outstanding IT support companies don’t just set up data backup systems and walk away – hoping that everything will work okay. Instead, they provide a backup management service that ensures that someone is consistently checking on the company’s backups.
• Maintained – Your backups need regular maintenance in order to maintain their security and integrity. By entering into a relationship with a managed IT services company, you will get the IT maintenance required to keep your backed up files available to you – regardless of circumstance.
• Monitored – Consistent monitoring of backups is what is missing from many IT maintenance strategies employed by Atlanta companies today. The company leaders – and IT care technicians – wrongly assume that just because they have a backup strategy in place that it always works. While their backups may work consistently, it only takes one faulty backup to lose a vast amount of vital data. Automatic backup monitoring with alerts functionality allows a company like Centerpoint IT to watch over your data backup process for you.
• Verifiable – How do you know that your overnight or hourly backups have been done? How do you know that the data stored on an off-site server or in the cloud is an accurate copy of your operational data? Without an IT professional on your side, that is consistently verifying your backups, you can’t have confidence in those backups.
• Secure – Data security is a big deal today. If you don’t have encrypted, offsite, geo-redundant backups in certified data centers or cloud storage, you simply don’t have backup data security.

How Do I Know If My Business Backup Plan is Out of Date?

Let’s start with the most ancient and work our way up to more recent – but still out of date – backup strategies.

• If you’re still using tape backup, you’re out of date.
• If you’re still using thumb drives and external hard drives, you’re out of date.
• If you’re only using an on-site server for backup, you’re out of date.
• If you’re using consumer-grade, cloud-based file sharing systems, you’re out of date.
• If you don’t have managed, encrypted, verifiable backups, you’re out of date.

Why Does It Matter If My Atlanta Business Data Backup System Is Out Of Date?

Backups matter!

Why?

Because your backups ARE your business.

Without your backups, your business is just one power surge or ransomware attack away from going out of business.

Think about it with me for a minute.

If a hacker uses ransomware against your company and takes all of your files, spreadsheets, documents, photos, and databases hostage. You’ve only got three choices.

• Choice #1 – Pay the criminal BIG BUCKS to release your files and in the process fund international criminal enterprise.
• Choice #2 – Recover your data from managed, verifiable, encrypted, offsite backups.
• Choice #3 – Lose all your data and either pay thousands of dollars to rebuild your databases – if it’s even possible – or close up shop for good.

Choice #2 is looking pretty good right now, isn’t it?

What did the old people use to say?

“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

They had it right!

Partnering with the Centerpoint IT team to provide your business with managed, verifiable, encrypted, offsite backup is a far better choice than risking it all with a business data backup that may or may not be there for you when you need it.

Ready to learn more about Centerpoint IT and business continuity strategy? We have some outstanding articles for you HERE.