Essential Data Back-Up & Disaster Recovery Tips

Even the most careful and cautious business in the world is at risk of natural and human-made disasters that could bring down essential infrastructures and systems. No matter what industry you are in or what size your business is, a foolproof data back up and disaster recovery plan is vital to protecting your company and avoiding a crisis should the worst happen.

Getting back-ups correct is no easy task, and disaster recovery is even more difficult to implement effectively. Ever changing and growing technology such as cloud solutions adds yet another layer of complexity to IT systems and is just another aspect that needs a reliable back up plan. As well as this, strict data laws such as GDPR put even more pressure on companies to protect their customer’s data and avoid security breaches.

The terms data back-up and disaster recovery are often misunderstood and misused; it is essential to understand that having a back-up plan is different from having a disaster recovery strategy and that you may need both!

What is data back up?

A data back-up is a copy of your businesses data stored on another device in a different location to your originals. Often data back-ups are in the form of a separate drive or storage device within a data centre or stored in a completely different location to everything else.

In most cases, back-ups are created on a daily basis, so your back-up file is always up to date and relevant. Cloud technology provides an automatic and remote solution for creating daily back-ups. However, some businesses still operate with a physical drive that is backed up regularly by an individual.

These data back-ups give you the ability to restore your data back to the original source should anything go wrong. When running a business, it is essential to have a back-up plan in place to protect your data from the worst-case scenario. Creating a back-up plan requires deciding what needs to be backed up, how often it needs backing up and how long it should be kept for.

You will also need to consider how and where this data will be backed up. There is a range of back-up data solutions out there and to properly understand which is right for you and your business; you first need to understand your back-up requirements fully.

What is disaster recovery?

Disaster recovery is much more in-depth than a data back up and includes having a full plan and technical solution to keep your business running should a disaster strike. To establish an effective disaster recovery plan, you first need to identify which systems are required to keep your business functioning should an incident occur and how long your business can run with each various system being offline.

Disaster recovery solutions come in many different forms; some will automatically take over from the primary system if the connection is lost, while others involve restoring the system from back-ups.

Top tips to keep your business protected

Many businesses will require both a back-up data plan and disaster recovery strategy to protect themselves from a crisis adequately. There are a few best practices that every business should follow to ensure their data and systems are effectively protected in the event of a disaster:

Plan

The most important practice for any business is to make sure you have both a back-up data plan and a disaster recovery strategy in place to protect yourself. If your data doesn’t exist in at least two different places, then it might as well not exist at all; the same can be said for your systems and workloads. Computers and the data within them make up your organisation, and if you choose not to protect them properly you could end up with nothing.

Cloud

Use the cloud to make reliable and automated back-ups. Cloud-based back-ups will back up your data over the internet and can be restored from anywhere in the world as long as you have an internet connection. Data is stored off-site and often protected from physical natural disasters such as flooding or fires. Back-ups can be arranged to complete automatically in the background, meaning you don’t have to worry about remembering to do them on a weekly or monthly basis.

Organise

Organisation is key. For a functional and reliable back up, ensure your files are organised into a sensible system. This way you will easily be able to locate your lost data should the worst happen.

Audit

When it comes to establishing an effective disaster recovery strategy, start by reviewing the basics. Audit all your internal back-up plans and determine where the areas of weaknesses are. Even the best disaster recovery plan in the world can’t recover data that hasn’t been properly backed up.

Update

Keep your disaster recovery plan current. A disaster recovery plan cannot simply be set up and then left to its own devices until it is required, it needs to be maintained and updated as the business grows and evolves. It should always be at the forefront of your mind, and whenever a system or process within your business is changed, your disaster recovery plan needs to reflect that.

To review your back-up and disaster recovery strategy, get in touch with the experts at Cyan  – we are ready to help to ensure your success.

Our Guide To IT Budgeting

Budgeting for your business is never easy. One of the hardest aspects to budget for is your IT strategy and requirements. Whether you base it on projects, annually or quarterly, it can seem impossible to know how to budget when you must manage costs and prepare for unexpected situations.

However, when IT budgeting is crafted correctly, it can serve as a useful and influential roadmap for the future of the business and the strategy you are taking. Your budget can not only be the plan of finances but can be how you communicate where you want your technology strategy to be and how it can help the organisation as a whole.

A good IT budget will not only help you to prepare for the costs of the project or year but will also help you to set your priorities, so you know what to aim for and what is vital for your business. Not only does the budget help the IT department, but it also helps line managers in other departments. They can see and input the activities that lie ahead and help your IT plans to be supported across the company.

So, how do you start to prepare your IT budget?

How to prepare your IT budget

Firstly, the organisation needs to decide how best to allocate the IT budget. Some organisations want to assign an IT budget to each department and use a chargeback system. For some businesses, this can work, for others, it can be too complicated and challenging to instigate and work effectively. Either way, the IT department itself will need its own budget for day-to-day maintenance.

It is essential to begin your budget so that it provides a level of detail that builds a substantial case for approval but also doesn’t require micro-management. It needs to be flexible but still be a driving force behind your technology plan.

Secondly, you need to include the vital aspects of your IT budget.

Eight essentials to include in your IT budget

1. Upgrades

It is likely that you will need to upgrade outdated software and hardware and it is best to be prepared for the cost of this.

2. Staffing

While some IT staff costs may be covered through the HR budget, you may need to incorporate staff into your IT budget whether you are expanding the team, promoting, increasing training or purchasing new equipment for the team to use.

3. Software

Software can sometimes seem like an unnecessary expense, but software can help to make staff more efficient and productive, which can, therefore, cut costs and boosts profits for the overall organisation. Regarding software budgeting, always run a cost/benefit analysis. Remember, you don’t have to spend your entire budget just because you have allocated a cost.

4. Cloud

The use of cloud technology continues to increase, and your business needs to prepare for it. Whether you expand into more cloud-based solutions, require more storage or need to strengthen your cloud security systems, this will take a chunk of your budget.

5. Mobile technology

Handsets quickly become outdated, and data plans increase rapidly. You need to account for increasing spend whether this is for new employees, upgrades for all staff or incidents when devices are lost, stolen or broken. As well the devices and data, you may need to also account for applications that enhance security such as mobile device management.

6. Training

The IT department has considerable responsibility for maintaining cybersecurity across the whole organisation. As well as strengthening systems internally, the IT department will need to deliver regular training to ensure staff remain complaint with IT policies and do all they can to support cybersecurity for the business.

7. Backup

Your budget will need to account for a backup solution, whether you need data back-up to a variety of locations or upgrading your own backup hardware. Within this you may also need a back-up for internet connection should your chosen solution fail, and you need to get everyone back online quickly.

8. Disaster

Every IT budget should declare a proportion of the budget for disaster planning. There could be many aspects that go wrong, from broken hardware to data compromises or server issues. Whatever aspects that you manage within the IT department make sure to dedicate a proportion to covering any disasters that may occur.

Flexible planning

While it can be stressful to make sure every pound is allocated correctly, it is important to remember that fluctuations will happen, and you need to prepare to be flexible. Always consider your budget as a work in progress and try to tweak it where you need to so that your strategy remains on track.

If you need advice on IT budgeting or are looking to upgrade your technology solutions for cost-saving, security and efficiency, then get in touch with Cyan Solutions to find out how we can help.