Backing up your data can prevent the loss of critically important files, documents, etc. It’s really not an “if” something happens, it’s “when”? Will you be prepared for the following scenarios?
1. Mistake or Malicious Intent
Regardless of if you have 5 employees or 5,000, each of them at some point will make a mistake – like accidentally opening an e-mail that contains a virus, or clicking the wrong button and deleting critically important files. You also run the risk of your information being changed, deleted, etc. by a disgruntled former employee. Taking frequent incremental snapshots of your systems can make these mistakes minimal due to the ability to restore to a snapshot taken before the virus attacked, and before that important file was deleted, accidentally or on purpose.
2. Audits, Taxes, and Archives
Keeping business records is important, and in many cases, required. These records sometimes must be kept for years, either for tax purposes or certain regulations. Sure, our computers typically have several years’ worth of information on them, but that means nothing when your computer crashes and is unrecoverable. Having an offsite backup of critical client information is not a luxury, but a necessity, should something go wrong locally. A data disaster is not an excuse for the IRS and regulatory commissions. Your fines for non-compliance will be well beyond the money “saved” by not having your data backed up… and so will your headache, as your data is also gone.
3. Competitive Advantage
In the event of a natural disaster, where is the first place that you go when you get to leave your home? The first place that is open and ready for business! That place is usually slammed full of people, and that place probably had a backup plan so they could get back up and running first. With this, you are able to bring in new customers that may have gone elsewhere. Without a plan, the businesses that are still closed may have to shut their doors for good due to their loss of business. Your data is your business!
4. Deadly Downtime
Serious outages cause business disruptions, resulting in reduced productivity, damage to reputation, breaches in security, and lost revenue. In August 2013, Amazon.com went down for a period of 30 to 40 minutes, which in turn cost the company between $3 and $4 million. While this number was not detrimental to the well-being of the company as a whole, a 2007 University of Texas study found that “about 43% of all businesses that experience a catastrophic data loss never reopen, and 51% shut down within two years.” Those are really large percentages when we are speaking on something that is preventable.
5. Doing Work Twice
What is worse than having your computer filled with necessary documents and work items, when it crashes and is unrecoverable? Not only have you lost legally required documents, as we talked about earlier; but you also have to go re-create spreadsheets, and/or any other work you may have been working on for months. How will you ever replace years’ worth of work? No one wants to do their work more than once!
Share with your team why you have chosen a managed IT service for your business
The MSP is not there to take any team members jobs, and your team needs to know that. It should be a positive change, as it will allow those team members to apply their skills in a more beneficial way to the organization, allowing them to work more effectively and efficiently on other business initiatives.