The era of digital transformation has changed businesses for the better in countless ways.
Think of the advantages of working online, going paperless, and using software to streamline so many of the workplace’s key processes.
We now live and work in the age of data, where technology has turned our companies into more capable and collaborative entities – it’s fair to say this change has been for the better.
But nothing is without its downsides. As you think of all the data your business has on its drives, a worrying thought may cross your mind – what happens if you had a disaster that resulted in mass data loss?
It’s happened to other companies, so there’s no reason to think it couldn’t happen to you. These instances are more common than you think, and they’re always a pain to deal with unless you prepare ahead of time.
This is what makes disaster recovery plans and data backups so vital for business continuity.
What’s the Cost of a Data Disaster?
When companies lose their data, there’s a lot of damage done both immediately and over the course of the ensuing weeks, months, and even years.
Sometimes the full scope of data disasters isn’t known for a long time. Not preparing a disaster recovery strategy can result in a lot of regrets, and worse, a lot of costs.
If personal, financial, or medical data is compromised, your company could face massive fines and legal fees to go with them. This is a hefty expense to bear, as is the monetary cost of trying to rebuild your data pools and reestablish your company’s digital structure.
Don’t forget that during the time when you’re trying to fix this situation, you’re moving resources away from your current operations – that means more money and time lost to a problem that could’ve easily been prevented.
The Cost You Can’t Put a Price Tag On
When a company finishes paying the fines and settlements for losing data, and once they pay to reestablish their servers and make sure their cybersecurity setup is in order, they’re done – right?
Not exactly. When a company experiences data loss from a security breach or other emergency, its reputation can be damaged for life. It’s the type of harm you can’t undo with money, as losing out on customer and shareholder trust is often a permanent problem.
Without a data backup and disaster recovery strategy, your company could incur irreparable harm.
Data Backups Help with Compliance and Continuity
Data backups are often talked about in the context of risk management, and this is one of their primary purposes. While they can help to keep your company going when disaster strikes, they can also make it much easier to stay compliant with industry standards.
Think about how many important documents a company goes through on a regular basis. Everything from financial records to safety inspection information may be required during audits and review periods – if you had to retrieve all these documents, would you feel confident that you could do it?
Many companies discard their older files in order to stay organized. But when a situation comes up where you’re required to show this information, data backups make it easy for you to pull up anything you need.
By backing up everything, you ensure that no file, regardless of how small, will be thrown away so you can’t retrieve it as necessary.
Create a Culture of Confidence at Your Company
Data backup strategies can shield a company from the damaging impact of cyberattacks, natural disasters, pandemics, and more. They ensure the organization’s files and file structure are easy to recover, so business is never down for long.
Along with aiding in compliance objectives, data backups and disaster recovery strategies help you create a culture of confidence. Everyone from your workers to your customers to your shareholders can feel more secure doing business with you when they know you make data management and business continuity a priority.
Make Your Business Unstoppable in the Digital Age
Every business must deal with risk management in terms of data loss, security breaches, and downtime – while you can’t avoid these threats completely, you can ensure that a disruption doesn’t derail your operation.
When you take data backup and disaster recovery processes seriously, you make sure that your company is unstoppable from a digital perspective. You may be down when data disasters happen, but you’ll never be out as long as you’ve prepared properly.
With RJ Young handling your data backups and IT needs, you’ll always be ready for the unexpected. Don’t let a data breach or other similar emergency cause you to lose money and customer confidence – contact us to get the secure data backups and disaster recovery solutions your business needs.