Tech Tips: What Your Backups Say About the Strength of Your IT Recovery
Your organization likely belongs to the 90% of companies who have some degree of data backup - a foundational element in creating a resilient IT infrastructure. However, backups are simply not enough to ensure a fortified environment with agile recovery capabilities. Measures of infrastructure strength include metrics such as data redundancy, recovery speed, and user experience. The availability and strength of modern data protection and recovery tools have broadened the scope of IT best practices. Considering this, the following Tech Tips were created to promote these practices, and to recommend some of the many tactics available to strengthen your IT infrastructure.
1. The 3-2-1 Rule is No Longer the Platinum Standard of Data Redundancy
The 3-2-1 rule for data backup (recommended by the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team) entails having 3 total copies of your data, 2 on different types of local media, and 1 as an offsite copy. In 2021, critical data deserves a better defense - specifically by diversifying the geographic location of the data and increasing the number of offsite copies. Cyberattacks, especially ransomware, have become more complex and intrusive, demanding organizations put more resources into data defense. Increasing the redundancy for your data is fundamental to a strong IT infrastructure, and it can save your business!
2. Don’t Let Bandwidth Be Your Bottleneck
Choosing your Internet Service Provider and purchasing your desired download speeds is a vital decision in optimizing backups and recovery. However, paying for the highest internet speeds will not always yield the best results. Older hardware (especially network & wireless devices) can bottleneck your speeds because antiquated network equipment can have a threshold below the internet speeds you’re buying. Some aspects to consider when your IT team is making bandwidth decisions include:
- Number of users
- Number of connected devices
- Hours of online activity
3. Ensure That Your User Experience is Quick, Efficient, and Easy to Use for Your Tech Team
User experience is not just condemned to how people interact with products or services, but also how people interact with information to serve your customers. In your organization’s most critical moments, it’s essential that you have an interface that you can trust. Considering this, it’s recommended that your tech team “stress-tests” the user experience of your backup and disaster recovery systems BEFORE your organization is facing an emergency. Ensuring that your apps and services are accessible in times of disaster, and awareness of recurring bugs or problems could save your business.