Although not as dramatic as cyber scams, identity theft and other cybersecurity topics we’ve covered the last month, the following issue can have just as catastrophic consequences on a business as the latter.
What happens when you lose ALL of your data? We’re talking websites, content management systems, digital products, files, documents and contracts?
Just the thought of it is enough to keep any business owner awake at night, however, it is something that occurs more frequently than you think.
Here are a few things you can do to mitigate this risk and safeguard yourself from any potential data loss.
What happens if you overnight lose access to your main content management system? The company behind the platform you use goes out of business, or all of your files accidentally get wiped.
Most cloud-based systems already do their own backups and recovery processes, however, there are ways you can do this too.
For example, if all of your files are kept on Dropbox, drop a copy of them in Google Drive, and vice versa.
If you have all of your files on a computer or internal server, and not in a cloud-based system – you might want to look at investing in some cloud-based software and also vice versa – if your documents and files are all in the cloud, make a hardcopy of them too.
Failing to plan is planning to fail.
The more you can take into consideration of something going wrong when it comes to data recovery, the more you can come up with alternative outcomes and solutions.
Firstly, assess your level of disaster risk for your company.
Just like physical risks – eg. being situated close to an earthquake-prone area or an area where Is business break-ins are common, assess the digital risks to your business.
Secondly, assess what data (both online and hard copies) need to be duplicated or backed-up as outlined in the first point.
Once this step is complete, make it a regular routine to test your back-up systems at least once a month.
That way, if you are ever forced to resort to your backed up files, you have experience in doing so.
A digital risk in this day and age is startup companies and SAAS (software-as-a-service) companies going out of business, due to increased competition or becoming outdated very quickly.
Technology is SO fast now in its product cycle, and with this, storage changes just as quickly.
Do your research on any software platforms you use and look at the background of the company and their technological capacity.
Data storage is rapidly evolving and changing when it comes to the types of technologies that are used to to this.
For example, decades ago, everything was printed and in the form of paperback storage in filing cabinets. A decade ago it was digital storage in the form of floppy disks and USB drives. Now everything is cloud-based.
Be savvy to the idea that data storage will again change over the coming years – and get on top of it quickly.
This will help create a smoother process in data transition and assist you in avoiding getting left behind – with technology that you so heavily relied upon for storage simply ceasing to exist in a few years time.
All this tech talk overwhelming? No worries. Chat to one of our friendly team members on how you can make data systems work for your business. Click here to book a consultation.
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