RenovoData Weekly Articles

In just this past year alone, the business environment has shifted dramatically.  Along with a tighter economy comes increased scrutiny of IT budgets.  However, while many IT projects may be decreased along with budgets, the amount of data that is created and maintained by an organization continues to grow exponentially.  The dramatic surge in data protection and data storage needs is a result of increased electronic communication applications and other information moving to digital format.  As businesses look to grow from a need to store gigabytes to terabytes, data center space and power are more and more expensive.  In today’s economy, the combination of cost, operational and legislative pressures are driving businesses to look at more cost-effective data storage technologies and data management solutions.

Data deduplication is the latest technology that has been embraced by users as they struggle to control data growth and distribution.  By eliminating redundant data objects, an immediate benefit is realized through space efficiencies.  Consequently, lower storage space requirements will save money on disk expenditures.  The more efficient use of disk space also allows for longer disk utilization periods, better recovery time objectives (RTO) and a reduction of data that must be sent across a WAN for remote backups, replication and disaster recovery.

Despite the downward economic spiral, businesses are experiencing accelerated data growth; with that comes a need for fast, reliable remote backup solutions such as those which are a part of data deduplication.  Likewise, tough economic times present greater chances for data security threats.  In additional to cost savings, data deduplication provides the ability to instantaneously verify that data has been backed up.  It also provides higher security, faster restores and shorter backup windows.  Operational savings and productivity gains are compelling factors to consider when debating on data deduplication.

Today, we are inundated with news of how the unstable economy is affecting businesses all over; from the subprime mortgage crisis to a prolonged global recession.  This has placed disaster recovery spending in the cost category of a mere luxury expense, causing cash and resources to be diverted away from disaster recovery planning as organizations focuses on survival.  Some businesses may allow their disaster recovery contracts to remain idle and business continuity activities to be cancelled or postponed.  Although these actions all save money for the business initially, they do away with cautiously planned defenses, leaving the potential for vulnerabilities such as theft, fraud and equipment failure to be heightened by the recession.

Many businesses are under the misguided assumption that making less money means there is a need to spend less on disaster recovery.   However, this is actually where the emphasis on IT security spending should be placed; as businesses are less likely to bounce back in the event of a financial crisis.  Neglecting this area can have detrimental consequences for businesses of all types.  Disaster recovery should be considered an essential methodology for ensuring business continuity and survival in these tumultuous times.  A comprehensive disaster recovery plan is critical now more than ever.

This is especially important for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) where streamlining and cutting back on expenses are inherent in business operations.  However, SMB owners must take into account that without any disaster recovery plan in place, they are at risk of losing revenue that could perpetuate their demise.  Major components that should not be overlooked are data loss prevention and continuous access to mission-critical data.

Disaster recovery planning is like car insurance:  you hope you never get into an accident or have your car stolen or vandalized.  However, if you fall victim to any of these scenarios, the insurance is priceless.  Likewise, no company should go without risk planning and safeguarding their IT resources through some sort of disaster recovery plan.  It makes good business sense to plan for the worst to ensure your business maintains operations in the event of a disaster.  Storing data at a secure offsite backup and disaster recovery location that is far away from facilities where your business primary operates is the best place to begin. 

Fact:  It has been predicted that the number of people affected by data loss is expected to increase this year.  KPMG's Data Loss Barometer stated that the global figure could increase to 190 million in 2009; a 98 million increase of those affected in 2008.  Malcolm Marhsall, partner at KPMG, explained that companies are set to become more vulnerable due to budget constraints brought on by the credit crunch.   KPMG's previous Data Loss Barometer found that half of the reported incidents were caused by internal sources, while 25% were the result of computer theft.