If Your Backup Doesn’t Involve These Three Aspects, You’re Doing It Wrong

 For any business continuity strategy to be complete, a data backup strategy needs to be involved. This is often easier said than done: there are a lot of elements that need to be considered, and some data can go overlooked if the solution isn’t maintained. However, considering the likelihood of data loss without one, a data backup is an indispensable component to prioritize and evaluate over time.

Let’s consider why—explicitly—these evaluations are so important.

The Fundamentals of Data Backup

There are three elements that any modern backup strategy needs to incorporate to contribute to its success:

1. Incremental Backups: To retain as much data as possible in the event of a disaster, backups should be taken throughout the day—as frequently as every 15 minutes.
2. Fast Recovery: A backup solution needs to be able to restore data promptly and when called for so it can minimize the amount of downtime your business must contend with.
3. Regular Testing: A backup solution that doesn’t do its job could lead to a highly detrimental situation, so your backups should be tested regularly to identify and resolve any shortcomings.

Is Testing Your Backups Really That Important?

While you should always evaluate your technology to check for issues, your data backups make this even more important to do. Your business relies on the data it can access, and with so many ways that this data could be lost you need some way to effectively mitigate any scenario. A backup and data recovery service can provide you with the means to do so.

Of course, even if you have a BDR in place, testing is no less important to ensure that it works effectively if (or, more realistically, when) you need to use it. Plus, if it doesn’t work in your test, you have a chance to fix the problem before larger problems ensue.