Threats to your company’s data come in many forms. Natural disasters like earthquakes, tornados, and floods can strike without warning. Cyber-attacks, particularly on companies in the retail and healthcare industries, are also on the rise, such as the data breaches at Target and the healthcare insurer, Anthem. The question is not whether your company will be affected but when it will be impacted. Don’t take chances with your security. Preparing and testing a robust backup system and disaster recovery plan will give you the means to survive.

Disasters by the Numbers

While EMC reported that the number of data loss incidents has decreased, the amount of data lost has increased by 400% in the past two years. In addition, Seagate notes that more than half of companies storing 2 to 7 Terabytes of data have had 2 to 3 data loss incidents in a single year.

Downtime and data loss can be expensive. The same EMC Corporation Survey found that downtime and data loss cost enterprises a total of $1.7 trillion. According to an Aberdeen study, this amount breaks down into $163,674 in lost labor and revenue per hour. These numbers show that your business can’t afford to leave security to chance.

Besides economic costs, accidents and attacks take a toll on your reputation. Companies that suffer catastrophic losses may be forced out of business. PricewaterhouseCoopers research found that 70% of small businesses that reported a data loss that had a significant impact folded a year after the event.

Always Be Prepared

Don’t wait for a real disaster to find out if your backup and recovery solution works. Ratmir Timashev, CEO and President of Veeam, stresses the importance of testing backups and restores, noting that 1 in 7 backups fails to restore properly and that 19 out of 20 organizations fail to test their restores. Many companies also fail to back up regularly. These companies risk facing a traumatic event only to find they have no defense against it.

Being proactive with your backup and Disaster Recovery plans and actions not only will prevent your business data from being lost in the fray, but also protect your customers and clients from being affected. Here are a few tips to keep in mind when thinking about your company’s preparedness.

• Don’t hope for the best; plan for the worst.
• Back up data regularly and make multiple copies.
• Store your backup off-site.
• Practice restoring your data.

Your company needs to stay ahead of the game so you will be ready to defend yourself against an attack or disaster when it comes. An effective Disaster Recovery partner should help you anticipate threats by monitoring network activity for any attempts to infiltrate your data. Performing real-time analysis of trends enables you to identify anomalies that signal an impending event. With this insight, instead of waiting for a disaster, you can identify and react to threats before it’s too late.

In the event that a threat does get by your initial defenses, you need to have a strong response and recovery. An assessment of your existing environment should alert you to necessary upgrades that will improve your chances of a full recovery in the event of data loss.

Solutions-II can help protect your business, contact us now for more information! A vulnerability assessment can benefit businesses of all sizes.