The Importance Of Backing Up Your Data

Keeping your data propperly stored and protected is important - always make sure that you have a backup

Many people think that backups are there just for when a server breaks and becomes inoperable, but the truth is that data backups come in handy for recovery from other things such as computer viruses or crashes. However, it seems that a lot of businesses are not doing their due diligence when it comes to protecting their data.

A recent study by internet service provider Beaming, found that 2.8 million UK firms risk losing valuable information by storing electronic copies of their data in the same location as their original data, leaving them open to data loss through theft, fire or malware attack. Broken down, this was 44% of small businesses, 42% of medium sized businesses and 34% of large businesses who said they currently store backup information in the same location it is created. Worryingly, a further 1 million UK businesses said they do not back up their data at all.

Backing up data is one of the most important things any business can do, as routine backups for businesses can prevent loss of revenue through the cost of computer downtime or data loss. There are a variety of ways in which you can backup your data to protect yourself against one of these issues such as local and network backups, USB flash devices or external hard drives and cloud backups.

Whichever method works best, businesses must still adhere to the general rules when backing up their data to ensure security if something was to happen:

Keep at least 3 copies of your data

Store the data in at least 2 different formats

Keep 1 copy offsite to protect against fire, theft, floods and other physical disasters

Here at OrderWise, we backup data every day for our hosted solutions, with the option to offer a backup frequency shorter than 24 hours (at an additional cost) if a specific customer requires it. The need for backups are essential for any business which is why our hosting backups for customers are kept offsite in a different data centre located within the UK so that they are not damaged or prone to viruses. We also recommend backups are taken during downtimes if only taken once a day. With OrderWise Cloud Hosted Solutions, we generally set the backups to take place automatically around 2am each morning.

To ensure your data is protected, we have a range of ways in which customers can backup their data on the OrderWise system such as;

Standard users can perform manual backups through the admin console

Through the SQL Management Studio

SQL Maintenance plan

3rd party backup tools, such as Acronis, Veeam

By using this advice and ensuring your OrderWise data is backed up regularly, you can rest easy knowing your business is well protected against any potential data breaches or system crashes.

To discuss the importance of backing up your data in further detail, please contact us on 01522 704083.