When was the last time you thought about your business’s data? Or better still, when was the last time you took steps to back up that data? If the answers range from “not lately” to “never,” you’re not alone. Data loss represents a prominent threat to today’s data-driven businesses, however, many companies often learn the hard way the importance of regular backups.

The Dangers of Data Loss
Disaster for your data can strike at any moment with the following representing a few common causes of data loss:

• Ordinary wear and tear of physical storage mediums, including end-of-life failures of flash-based drive hardware
• Power outages and equipment failures that damage or destroy data on your hardware
• Accidental data corruption and deletion by end users
• Loading and sync issues that result in corrupted or lost data
• Viruses and Trojans that infect, compromise, and even erase data
• Ransomware that encrypts entire drives, effectively holding your data hostage
• Insider threats resulting in data loss, including sabotage by disgruntled workers

Not having a backup for your business’s data is like not having a backup parachute when you’re skydiving. While the results aren’t as dire as not having a failsafe when you’re freefalling from several thousand feet, your business will still suffer greatly without a way to retrieve mission-critical data.

Proven Backup Methods
When it comes to backing up your business’s data, you’ll have plenty of options at your disposal. Local data backups run the gamut from DVDs and Blu-ray discs to external hard drives and on-site network storage systems using multiple 3.5-inch hard drives or SSDs. Magnetic tape storage preserves data for significantly longer periods than other storage mediums, but backups to magnetic tape are often time-consuming and the media itself is comparatively expensive.

Off-site storage options can protect your data from disasters that happen close to home. These options range from a satellite data backup site located at a nearby branch to cloud storage offered by a data backup and recovery service. Service providers can also perform incremental backups on a regularly scheduled basis, ensuring your data remains protected and available when you need it most.

Need a helping hand when it comes to protecting your company’s invaluable data? Contact the IT experts at Golden Gate Office Solutions today and let us create a roadmap for your backup and data recovery needs.