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If you don’t properly backup your information, you could lose it. This can result in damage for your brand, civil or criminal penalties, or even loss of customer trust and ultimately business opportunities. Build a strategy for your backups to ensure you have what you need when you need it most.

There is truly no one-size-fits all backup solution for businesses. However, there are a few basic details to consider before you dive into a new backup plan. Know what you have and need, assess the level of security your business requires, and look at the features offered by the backup providers.

Run a full assessment of the data you’re company has and map out a clear strategy to implement your new backup plan and keep it on track for the long run. Make a special note about the volume of information you have, your current backup features, and the costs. This will help you compare your current plan with potential solutions apples to apples.

For example, medical facilities are required to encrypt their files to HIPAA standards and run regular risk assessments to ensure their patient data is safe. If you have any regulatory requirements, make sure to spell them out ahead of time and ask your potential backup vendors if they can take care of these critical concerns. You will find that the solutions offered by different backup providers vary greatly. Some have quick online or device recovery options, some offer truly scalable solutions that are economical, some have beefy security features and extensive training materials, but others just fall short. Carefully review all your options before diving into an agreement for a new backup solution

Of course, when you lose a file you want it back fast. Realistically, the recovery time varies from solution to solution. Some offer an online or device platform where you can dive right in to retrieve your files, while others charge you for file recovery and may take some time to respond. Be sure to interview your prospective backup vendors and ask questions about hypothetical recovery scenarios. This will help you decide if you’re comfortable with their recovery options.

We’ve heard that people who lose their data are just unlucky. We actually call it unprepared. Take a proactive approach to our data management. Here are a few great ways to get the ball rolling in the right direction:

If you don’t have a backup provider yet, go shopping. Follow our three steps here to assess your needs and find a vendor to support them all.

Relying on a human to press a button each day is simply unnecessary and risky. Ideally, your backups should automatically run each night and should be tested at least every three months.

This is a definitely a key point. Consider this, a burglar gets into your office and steals the physical computers under your desks. When you come into the office the next morning, how long will it take for you to get things going again? That all depends on how you backup. An onsite solution could be compromised, damaged or missing. Backing up offsite prevents both your location and your data from being compromised all at once.

Check with your backup vendor to ensure there is some sort of redundancy in place. This will give you the data you need even if your regular backup becomes corrupt.

Send in a request or try to recover a file at least once each quarter. That way you can rest assured that your

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