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Data Backup – Is It Worth the Effort?

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Author: James Walsh

Gone are the days when people used to have stacks and stacks of paper piled up on their desks. At that time, storing as well as searching for data was a hassle. However, with the advent of electronic data, our troubles seem to have ended. Or so you would like to think.

Electronic data has brought with it hassles of a different nature. While it is extremely easy to store and locate records while you use your electronic data, the threats to electronic data have increased more than ever.

Threats to Electronic Data

While traditionally people used to worry about losing or misplacing the hard copy of their data, companies today are worrying about a wide gamut of threats ranging from virus attacks to terrorist attacks. Never before has our data been so vulnerable as it is today. Malicious users are well aware of the fact that data these days is valuable. They attempt to exploit the value of this data for their personal gains.

Electronic data is not a huge hit with nature either. All it takes is a miniscule amount of water or dust for the hard disk to lose all the data contained therein. Therefore, the impact of hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, and tornadoes on your electronic data can be huge and often have disastrous consequences for the future of your business.

Is Backing Up Data Worth the Hassle?

With the threat of data loss looming large over our heads, can we afford to not back up our valuable data? The answer to the question is undoubtedly negative. Backing up data on a regular basis has become an essential part of companies’ disaster planning or business continuity planning. Most people do not realise the impact of data loss until the data loss event actually strikes them.

Lost business, man-hours, customers, and business reputation can very well lead a company on a path to bankruptcy. While this may seem like an overstatement to you, real-life incidents can prove the disastrous consequences of data loss events. Most of the companies without adequate data backup procedures went bankrupt after 9/11 terror attacks.

Companies in the service industry usually face the toughest cut-throat competition wherein companies are always trying to woo the competitor’s customers. Needless to say, it is the survival of the fittest. If a major data loss event hits this company, it would ideally have to cut down on its business downtime to the maximum so that the customers are not widely hit by the downtime.

How can a company make this possible? It is only possible if the company has efficient data backup procedures that can enable it to access its data even during the time of crisis. If it is able to do it, the company can continue to serve its customers while the IT department works on recovering the original data. However, if adequate data backup systems are not in place, the company will not only risk an increased business downtime but also a loss of reputation in the market due to the increased downtime.

In this time and age, customers are extremely demanding of any business. If your company cannot serve them, they are bound to rush to your nearest competitor. In addition, with the loss of market reputation, you will probably not find new customers for quite sometime to come. Therefore, you will not only lose out on potential customers but also the existing ones. With the loss of customer base, you are bound to run out of business very soon. Therefore, backing up data might just be the most time and cost-effective activity for your company.

Backing Up Data Can Be a Lifesaver

Let us not forget that data recovery is no child’s play. Intricate and often time-consuming methods may be required to recover your valuable data. If you do have backed up data, the lost data would need to be recovered at all costs. Therefore, you will end up paying a higher amount for data recovery than you would have if all your data were backed up efficiently.

Professional data recovery can be very expensive and if the damage to your data has been severe, you should be prepared to pay huge amount of money for recovering your data. However, if you have backed up your data, you need not spend a fortune on data recovery services.

Business continuity planning is a top priority for companies today. An effective business continuity plan is important for your clients and customers alike. You cannot expect people to put their money in your business when you do not have a plan for continuing your business in a time of crisis. Performing effective data backups is an integral part of business continuity planning. Therefore, it is imperative for your business to have regular and effective data backup plans in place.

The Catastrophic Consequences of Total Data Loss

Gone are the days when a company’s manager sitting in Guadalajara had to send a business plan via snail mail to his counterpart sitting in California. Not only did the procedure take a long time but the business also suffered because of the delay. Now, all a person needs to do is click a button and the data fax is sent the very next minute.

With the speed and agility of electronic data transfer, not only is the business able to save precious time but also money because as we all know, time is money in today’s competitive business world. Therefore, the value of our data has increased now more than ever. For that reason, data protection and data backup procedures form an integral part of business continuity planning these days.

If you think that a data loss situation is only about recovering lost data, think again. A data loss situation can have disastrous consequences for a business. These consequences can go far beyond only financial implications of data loss. We will discuss the top five consequences of total data loss in the following section to aid your understanding process.

Consequences of Total Data Loss

Total data loss is a nightmare that all companies dread. The consequences of total data loss can have a huge impact on your business operations. In fact, many companies have filed for bankruptcy after being unable to recover completely from a total data loss event. Needless to say, the aftermaths of total data disaster are not only alarming but also fatal for the future of the company.

· Loss of Man-hours

During a total data loss event, since most of your operations will come to a standstill, all your employees other than specialised IT staff, will be sitting idle. Data recovery is not a child’s play. Often, it takes days or weeks for the data recovery specialists to recover the lost data. In addition, there may be no guarantee that the data may be completely recoverable. If you are unable to recover your data completely, your employees will end up wasting their time and your company’s resources in recreating the lost data rather than conducting new business. While this is an implicit financial cost, you may not account for it in your financial books of accounts.

· Cost of Professional Data Recovery

Professional data recovery is an expensive affair. The experts work with specialised tools and techniques and since the nature of the service is highly technical, it is extremely expensive. If your business cannot survive without the lost data and recovery is your utmost priority, you may end up paying more to data recovery experts because speedy service comes with an extra price tag. If the data loss situation is such that the data recovery company needs to use a clean room environment, the cost of data recovery is bound to be higher.

· Bankruptcy

Recent studies have proved that if a company is not able to completely recover from a data loss situation within 7-10 days from the date of disaster, it is likely to go out of business within 6 months from the date of disaster. In fact, many companies that were hit by the 9/11 terror attacks filed for bankruptcy because not only did they encounter a complete data loss situation but they also did not have adequate data backup procedures in place. Therefore, the business was not able to recover because the proprietary and confidential data was lost forever.

· Creditors May Sue the Company

In the competitive business world, your company cannot expect sympathy from anyone during the time of crisis. Your customers as well as your creditors expect your business to perform as per their needs. If that is not the case, your customers will not conduct business with you and your creditors will pull out their money from your business. In addition, they may also sue your company for delay in payments that may result because of financial loss faced due to total data loss disaster.

· Reputation of the Company Is Bound to Suffer

Your company’s biggest asset is its reputation. With the huge amount of financial losses, increased business downtime, and hundreds of dissatisfied customers, your business’s reputation is bound to suffer. Many companies are not able to regain their market position after a total data loss disaster because the confidence of the customers as well as the investors gets shaken after the financial losses that result from total data loss disaster. Therefore, the companies are unable to find new business or sustain the existing one.

James Walsh is a freelance writer and copy editor. If you are concerned about data loss and would like more information on Data Recovery see http://www.fields-data-recovery.co.uk

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