When you entrust your business data to a cloud-based platform, you expect it to be safe and sound. However, most cloud platforms like Microsoft 365, Google Workspace and Salesforce acknowledge their backup shortcomings and recommend having an additional backup and recovery solution for your cloud-based data.
This is because cloud-based platforms often have limited data restoration capabilities, which can lead to data loss in the event of an outage or data corruption.
Unfortunately, many organizations like yours realize a backup is necessary only after their valuable data is lost. Don’t hesitate to deploy a robust backup and recovery solution to safeguard your cloud-based data. Before you get started, knowing best practices can help you get the most bang for your buck.
The four best practices
Here are four practical steps that you can use to ensure your backup journey is smooth:
Set your expectations
When you subscribe to a cloud-based platform, you generally get some level of backup and recovery baked into it. However, will that be sufficient? The best way to find out is to read through the vendor's terms and conditions (T&Cs) to see what type of backup they have in place.
Even if a vendor says that backup is included, you need to know what they actually mean. For example, some cloud-based service providers may only back up data once per day, while others may back up data in real time.
To reiterate, reading through your vendor's T&Cs is the first step to ensuring your valuable data doesn’t vanish into thin air.
Fine-tune your backup
You should customize your backup to meet your needs; otherwise, you run the risk of using the solution either insufficiently or excessively.
To successfully fine-tune your backup, you may need to consider several factors. For instance, you must know how quickly data changes to decide how frequently to back up data.
Other factors must also be taken into consideration when deciding the frequency of data backups, such as the amount of data and the data type and importance.
Test your backup regularly
Anyone who has ever lost data understands the importance of backup. However, having a backup isn't enough unless you test it on a regular basis to ensure it's working properly and that you'll be able to access your data when needed.
By testing it regularly, you will be able to catch issues early and fix them before it escalates into something severe.
So, how often should you test your backup? The answer may vary depending on your backup system and how crucial your data is, but as a general rule, it’s a good idea to test your backup at least once a week.
Stay up to date on the security landscape
As the digital world becomes increasingly complex, so does the security risks landscape. With the vast array of devices and applications we use, it's crucial to be aware of the different ways your data could be compromised and have strategies in place to prevent them.
This is critical for both survival and competition. If you’re ready to deal with any threat that may arise, your organization's chances of survival increase significantly. This strategy will also give you an advantage over your competitors because you are now far more resilient than you were previously.
An IT service provider can help
If you’re working alone, following the above best practices may be difficult since you have a lot of organizational matters to handle. This is where an IT service provider can help.
We can collaborate with you to create a backup plan that meets your needs and budget and provide support and maintenance to keep your data safe. Feel free to contact us for a no-obligation consultation.
Want to learn more? Read our “Why Your Cloud-Based Data Needs a Backup Solution” eBook.
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