Data Recovery for Small Businesses

Of all the processes carried out by an organization on a daily basis, data management is arguably the most dynamic and challenging. As almost every other business process depends on the data collected, stored, and managed by your team, you cannot afford to take any chances when it comes to the proper handling of your database.

This is the reason why organizations across the board are switching from the traditional on-premise infrastructures to cloud-based platforms that are more flexible, secure, and scalable. Companies prefer hiring a reliable MSP (managed service provider) to handle the cloud-based infrastructure and manage the digital database in the best way possible.

An MSP provides a wide range of cloud-based services to their clients, including the highly critical service of data recovery.

Data is called the “digital gold” in the 21st century. The records you store, assess, and manage allow you to undertake an array of different processes and provide personalized services to your customers/clients. If you happen to lose your valuable data, it would lead to dire implications for your organization. Data recovery is important for an organization to prevent itself from getting handicapped and have a backup of all records that matter to the company.

Small businesses rely heavily on their database to make regular assessments, understand the performance of the company, tap into new opportunities, and find scope for business growth. It is important for these businesses to implement robust data recovery solutions to have a safety cushion when it comes to dealing with unexpected data loss.

The Importance of A Data Recovery Plan

Data recovery is a fairly serious matter and requires a planned approach to implement the same. It is advisable for an organization to work with its MSP to create a well-defined data recovery plan to keep its database secure and private.

As digitization and process automation is reaching new heights, organizations across the board face more threats to the security of their databases. This makes it important for all valuable data to be backed up in a way that it can be recovered in case of a loss caused by cyberattacks or human errors.

If you do not have a data recovery plan in place, it becomes difficult to retrieve the lost records in a short period of time. It may also make you lose your data forever. A robust data recovery plan would help you make provisions for backing up all or some of your records to retrieve them when the original records are lost.

Common Reasons For Data Loss

Here are some of the most common reasons behind an organization losing its valuable data:

Power Outage

An unexpected power outage may result in your systems crashing. This may result in a loss of data, either because specific records are lost or because your IT equipment faces irreparable damage. This issue is most common when data is lost during transit or the development of an application.

Error Committed By Your Employees

This is the most fundamental and common reason behind an organization losing its database. While working, your employees may end up accidentally deleting important records, updating documents without saving changes, or committing other errors that result in loss of data.

Issues With The Hard Drive

A hard drive is likely to hold a plethora of valuable data for an organization. It is also one of the most sensitive parts of a device. If your hard drive fails in a way that it cannot be repaired without losing any data, all your valuable and sensitive records would be wiped out of your system.

Cyberattacks

Scammers and hackers are always ready to find vulnerabilities within an organization’s digital infrastructure, penetrate the same, and hamper the security of its data. You may encounter viruses within your system that wipe out all your data and/or give its access to the hackers. They can then manipulate or steal your data for their gains.

Why Is Data Recovery Important For Small Businesses?

Here are some of the major reasons why data recovery is important for small businesses:

Being Prepared For System Failures

A small business relies heavily on its systems for optimizing its data management processes. Having an effective data recovery plan allows you to be prepared for system failures and other similar instances that may result in your data getting wiped out of your system.

Minimizing Risks

Data recovery helps you in minimizing risks involved in data management and all processes that involve the use of transfer of specific datasets. Whether you are creating an application, migrating data to a new platform, or implementing a new software platform, data recovery always provides you with the assurance that you can retrieve your records in case they are lost in transit.

A Guaranteed Access To Valuable Business Information

Once you have backed up your data on a cloud-based platform, you can rest assured that it would stay there until you delete the records willingly. This allows you to provide a guarantee to your employees, customers, or partner for accessing business information they are authorized to view/edit.

Aiding Data Compliance

In the age of GDPR, it has become important for organizations in all countries to focus on data compliance to ensure the utmost security and privacy of the data collected from the customers. An effective data recovery plan helps your customers rest assured that their data will never be lost by your employees while working on the same.

Saving Time And Money

In absence of a data recovery plan, you would be required to spend a considerable amount of time and money in retrieving the lost data by hiring professionals and tracing the data lost. Moreover, this would not provide you with a guarantee that your data will be recovered.

On the other hand, a data recovery plan would readily provide you with backup data the moment you lose your valuable records.

Checklist For Data Recovery

Here are some of the most important questions you should ask before going ahead with formulating a data recovery plan with your MSP:

  • What is the location of your organization’s backup files?
  • How are your records getting backed up?
  • Are your records kept off-site?
  • Do you have extensive procedures in place to deal with tampering or theft?
  • Has your team run, verified, and tested the backups?
  • Which users have access to the records, networks, and backup systems within your organization?

The Final Word

These were some of the major benefits of having a robust data recovery plan in place and backing your data up to ensure its security. No matter how effective your system is, never compromise when it comes to the security and privacy of your database.