So what do you, as a business owner, need to know about data protection? The basic step is to make a backup of your electronic data. The first question for data backups is what to backup and how often? With the advance of data storage devices, it may seem that we can back up anything and everything. That may be true for home and small businesses. However, as your system collects more data and your businesses increases, it may not be the best way to simply backup everything. A few things you should consider. How do you control the ever increasing data that is being backed up? You might want to take into consideration what information is valuable for your reports and analytics. Take some time to come up with a parameter and build your data backup and protection strategy. Another thing to consider is how to contain the increasing need for data storage. The simplest way is to increase the size and the number of storage device. If you do so at the time when your existing storage space is near capacity, you may not have the time to plan for the best strategy. Take time to plan your data storage need for the next few years and re-evaluate the need periodically. This could provide you with a more efficient system that allows for modular growth.
As your data grows, the managing of the process and data analytics could become more time consuming. When possible, consider automation for every process with a way to audit these processes to ensure completion. You also need to consider is the method for system recovery incase failure. It is a good investment for you to test and verify your data recovery process periodically. This will not only validate your recovery process but also the backup process to ensure that when a real system failure occurs, you already have a proven solution for a quick and hassle free recovery.
As data volumes continue to climb, you need to periodically re-evaluate your strategies for providing data protection throughout their organization. New technologies can deliver higher levels of data protection while saving significant administration time and opportunity for human error. You should not set it and forget it especially if everything is automated. You still need to verify and evaluate your processes to ensure that when you need the information or restoration that your procedure and data are sound and valid.
