Do you have a “Data redundancy plan”?

In today’s business environment it is extremely important for every business regardless of size to have a digital assets redundancy plan. Owners and managers of businesses are so busy with their day-to-day issues; planning or implementing a redundancy plan tends to be placed in the “too hard” or “not enough time” basket. If a plan is put in place it is often not resourced sufficiently.

Businesses believe because they have data backup procedures in place to backup regularly they are covered. Commonly backups are downloaded to a tape or disc and then stored somewhere offsite. Having someone backup data and then remove the backup to a safe place is time consuming, labour intensive, prone to error and is not the complete solution for a redundancy plan.

Disaster can strike a business at anytime:

a fire could break out;
the premises could be broken into with theft or vandalism occurring;
the premise may suffer storm/flood damage; or
a computer crash occurs.

After any one of these events the businesses digital assets could be destroyed potentially bringing the business to a stand still. When disaster strikes businesses find out how good their backup procedures are. In the worst cases there are no backups, in some instances backups have failed to record, the latest tape may have been lost, or the backups have not been kept up to date.

If good reliable backups are not available a business may not survive the cash flow problems that occur due to the loss of digital documentation. Invoices and /or statements can not be sent out to debtors resulting in non-payments, goods not being supplied because creditors have not been paid and so on. This becomes a stressful time for everyone involved in the life and death struggle to keep the business going.

Using the latest technology it is easy to implement a “Data redundancy plan” at anytime with little effort or expense.

Imagine having your digital data securely stored off-site and available 24/7.

Backup technology companies have developed backup software that is web based, user friendly, secure and automated. These same companies have also invested in secure off site data storage facilities.

When reviewing your data redundancy plans the first step is to select a supplier and complete your due diligence. Remember there is no such thing as a free lunch; as with most things, you get what you pay for. The supplier you select should, as a minimum, have the following features incorporated into their solutions:

Supply a Secure download pipe (encrypted tunnel) for your data;
Data encrypted at 128 bit or higher before sending;
Username/ Password protection;
Automated backups (frequency starting at every 15 minutes);
Patching/ Delta technology (minimizes download band width and internet time);
Detailed activity logging (i.e. on Backup/ restores);
Process notification (sent after every backup or retrieval of files via email or SMS);
Data stored in an encrypted state;
Unlimited data downloads/ uploads;
Data available 24/7;
Data retrieval 24/7(over the web);
Ability to move data to optical media and provided as needed;
The latest equipment using RAID5 or similar technologies;
Fire walled and secured storage centres;
Data stored in two geographically different locations. (duplicate copies held in two data storage facilities) and;
Ensure the company has the flexibility to keep pace with your growing business.

This website is a good place to start your research and has all of the required features listed. The website also includes a return on investment page for your reference. The page enables you to calculate the Return on Investment in using Secure-ISS Explorer as compared to a traditional backup strategy. The following diagram is a brief explanation of how the Secure-ISS web based data backup process works.

Figure One - Secure Data Transfer

Figure Two - Secure Data Retrieval