Series: What Small and Mid-Sized Business Leaders Need to Know About Their Company’s IT – Server Backups
Small business leaders today are expected to wear all the hats and juggle all the balls. Inventory, accounting, HR, and even IT. But, your company data isn’t something to just dabble in. You need to make sure you have at least a basic working knowledge of your company’s data and IT systems to stay protected from growing cyber threats and hackers.
Unfortunately, there are very few places a business leader can go to learn the fundamentals of IT. Business leaders are often not the most technical person in their company which means they must trust the advice, knowledge, and execution of their technical employees or IT service providers.
So, we’ve created this guide for Business Leaders in Small and Medium Businesses (SMB’s). Our goal is to give you, the business leader, the ability to “trust but verify” the technology, your internal staff, and their data security.
Ask yourself: Where is your company data and who owns it?
Data comes in a variety of flavors, and it’s usually in a multitude of places. In this series, we talk about some different kinds of data that your company may own or use.
Data example #1: E-Mail
Data example #2: Your Company Website
Data example #3: Your Server
Data example #4: Server Backups
Why server backups matter: Everything your company does digitally runs through your servers, if you lose that data, you lose time AND money. Server backups should just be part of your regular routine, like brushing your teeth. They are essential for the health and welfare of your company data.
What you must know:
- What kind of backup does your company have for your servers?
Laymen’s terminology: “server backup” a copy of your server. But not just a copy of what’s in it, a copy of the structure of where everything goes inside of it. The backup can be files, applications, structure, databases, etc. And, there isn’t just one server backup. There are versions of backups taken at different points in time. Backup technologies are available in on-premise, hybrid, and cloud solutions depending on your needs.
Possible answers: Locally, in the Cloud, in a Data Center, in Multiple Data Centers, Nowhere
Why it matters: According to World Backup Day, 1 in 10 computers are infected with viruses each month. Regular backup policies and procedures offer protection for your business data in the event of some type of failure. And it’s not about whether a failure will happen – it’s when.
Business Continuity Concerns: Your company must have backups of all of its data and options for continuing business in the event of a disaster (examples: fire, data center down, data loss, hacking).
What you must know:
- Does your company run server backups?
- Can you restore a file, application, or server? If so, how quickly and on what machine?
- Do you test your backups to ensure they are viable? How?
If you have an internal IT person sit down with them and ask them these questions, or if you are currently outsourcing IT make sure you know their plan for server backups. If they don’t have an acceptable answer, it might be time to think about putting a Managed IT Service Provider in place for your business.
In case you missed it, check out our previous posts on data in your emails, on your website, and on your servers. Stay tuned for our next blog post on updates.
Are you tired of having recurring IT issues? Do you want to have more time to focus on your “real” job instead of having to be your company IT guy? Do you have internal IT but would like to take some of the weight off of them so they can work on things that really matter to you? Managed IT Services can get you there. Call Auxiom today!
