5 Reasons that Necessitate Data Back-Up for Businesses

The threat posed by cybercrimes to businesses today is too serious to be ignored. Just recently, cyber criminals successfully attacked computers in 150 Asian and European countries and introduced in them a ransomware known as WannaCrypt. The affected company had to part with several thousands of dollars to get their data back. At this rate, the only safe path to use in business is to backup data with a reputable IT company. Besides keeping cyber criminals at bay, there are many other reasons why backing-up your business data is essential.

1. Natural & Man-Made Disasters

A disaster can lead to partial or total loss of your data. Natural disasters, to begin with, include any occurrence whose control is beyond you; be it fire, storms, floods, earthquakes, or even tornados. In most cases, natural disasters can destroy your computers, and without having backed it up, there is a chance that you will lose the data therein.

Human-made disasters, on the other hand, include disasters that arise because of human error, negligence, or malice. When you are using your computer, you could mistakenly delete an important file, which is disastrous. Secondly, a member of your staff could be irresponsible with a computer assigned to him and end up causing a disastrous data loss. Thirdly and most importantly, a malicious cybercriminal can decide to hack into your system and delete valuable data. With a backed-up data, you will not have to worry about any of these.

2. Downtime Can Be Fatal

Data loss precipitates business downtime- the worst thing that ever happens in business. According to a study conducted by the University of Texas about a decade ago, there is a 43 percent probability that you will be out of business in a couple of years if your business experienced a 2-week downtime today. It is that fatal. On the flipside, if you manage to remain active at a time when your main competitor is down due to data loss, then you get the chance of winning some of their clients to your side. This, however, is only possible if you have a good back-up and disaster recovery plan for your business.

3. Computer Hardware Has a Possibility of Failure

It is normal for computer hardware to break or even crash from time to time. It is also normal for a hard drive to fail due to tear and wear. A study done by Carnegie Mellon University established that about 13% of computers of between 3 and five years old fail. When such happens to your business computer, and your data was not correctly backed-up, then you can’t help but watch as heavens come crumbling down on you. There could be a chance for your data to be recovered from the hard drive, but the process is slow and costly. Even worse, the data recovery process may not manage to recover all of the important files. This is yet another reason why data back-up is important.

4. Record Keeping

Keeping records is a normal practice in business. You may wish to keep business records for your future consumption, or as a way of complying with various business regulations. If you are keeping a single copy of your company or client data, then you are risking losing that record in the event of hardware failure, or any other reason discussed earlier. Assuming that your business was hit by a data disaster, and then it happens that time is due for you to file your tax returns, it would be so stressing for you to explain to the authorities why you failed to comply. In some cases, you will find yourself paying fines that could have been avoided by just putting a data backup system in place.

5. Time Saving

Compiling data is not a kid’s play: it takes time and a lot of energy. If your data is lost and you successfully recover it back, you will still have to spend time organizing it back to how it was before. Instead of having to suffer all the stress trying to re-compile data, it is better if you back it up instead.