Data backups may not feel urgent when everything’s working fine, but when something goes wrong, they can be the difference between a minor inconvenience and a major catastrophe. Not backing-up your data is like driving without a spare tyre. Most of the time, you don’t need it – but when you do, it’s urgent, and not having it can leave you stranded.
Just like a flat tyre can bring your journey to a halt, data loss can stop your business in its tracks. It can mean:
- Operational Disruption – data is central to every business function – customer management, sales, accounting, inventory, and more.
- Financial Loss – lost sales due to service interruptions, potential legal expenses from breaches of contract, and, of course, the cost of getting your systems up and running again which are likely to be far in excess of any backup expenses.
- Loss of Customer Trust – would you want to do business with a company that loses data?
- Competitive Disadvantage – losing proprietary data, such as customer lists, pricing strategies, or product designs, can give competitors an edge. If intellectual property or trade secrets are compromised, it can take years to recover, and the business may never regain its competitive position.
- Business Closure – in the most severe cases, data loss can lead to complete business failure. According to some industry reports, up to 60% of small businesses that suffer a major data loss close within six months.
Implementing a robust data backup strategy is essential and in the next article, we’ll consider the industry standard 3-2-1 approach – and the Wessex IT upgraded version.