We all know how important our business data is in today’s digital world. We are creating and using tons of new data every day. In fact, according to Forbes, there are 2.5 quintillion bytes of data created every 24 hours. And much of this business data is essential to keeping your business running smoothly and successfully. So, there’s no debate that this data needs to stay protected. The question is – Do you have a process in place to manage and keep your data safe? And better yet, do you have a disaster recovery plan if something terrible happens?
Considering that cyberattacks only continue to increase, now is the perfect time to have a solid data recovery plan. This article will discuss the dangers of not having a plan and why you need one. No matter how big or small your business is, you must have a data backup and recovery plan to protect your most valuable assets. Without a plan, you may be putting your business on the line.
When you don’t have a data recovery plan in place, you leave your business extremely vulnerable to scenarios that could impact the safety of your data. A classic example is a cyberattack, especially in the case of ransomware attacks. According to CompariTech, two in five SMBs have been victims of ransomware attacks. Without a data backup and recovery plan, when bad actors hack into your system, they now have access to all your data and can hold it for ransom.
Ransomware attacks are no longer an uncommon practice either. And the percentage of companies that survive them and get their data back is not very high. Sophos found that 46% of companies faced with an attack paid the ransom and only 4% of those that paid got their data back. With few positive outcomes from a ransomware attack, the simple solution is a data backup and recovery plan. But cyberattacks are only one primary concern facing small businesses.
Another one of the biggest dangers that any business faces is downtime. According to Forbes, 82% of companies have experienced at least one unplanned downtime incident over the last few years. And believe us, downtime is never cheap. Gartner found that the average cost of downtime was $5,600 per minute. That’s over $300,000 if your business experiences just an hour of downtime. With a data recovery plan, downtime is all but eliminated because your company always has access to your data.
There are many reasons why having a data recovery plan is crucial to the livelihood of your business. As we mentioned before, the most obvious is that your data is valuable and can be easily lost during a cyberattack or system failure. Whether you lose your data to a bad actor or any other way, you always have a second copy of those files when your data is backed up. But stronger security is only part of the battle; there’s also compliance.
A data backup and recovery plan is critical to maintaining compliance standards. When your business properly keeps up with compliance standards, you’re helping yourself avoid costly fines. This is especially important if you work in a heavily regulated industry like finance, healthcare, government-related work or legal. For example, individual HIPAA violations can cost as much as $50,000 per violation, so you need to keep your data backed up for many reasons, including steep regulatory fines.
There are many other benefits to a disaster recovery plan beyond security and compliance. With a plan in place, you can save a lot of money just on how you operate. With a cloud management system, you can give everyone access to what they need in a scalable system that increases workplace productivity and worker satisfaction. You can support flexibility and empower your employees to do their best work with a cloud backup and recovery system and an IT infrastructure that delivers long-term cloud solutions that benefit your business and team.
At First Column in the DMV area, we offer long-term plans that help make sure your data is secure. Whether you’re looking for basic cloud upgrades or an offsite data management solution, our IT experts are here 24/7 to help you with any of your business IT concerns.
Looking to learn more IT tips that your business could use? Check out our past blogs on cybersecurity and cloud solutions, or contact our team to continue the conversation.
