Take these steps to ensure cost-efficient data backups

When it comes to business data storage and access, we’re always told to never put all of our eggs in one basket. That is, instead of only having one copy of your entire data set in one location, you’ll want to have backups stored in different locations. However, people fail to mention that baskets beyond the first also cost money.
 
Fortunately, you can make every penny spent on data backups count — just follow the steps below:
 

1. Audit your data

Not every byte of data needs to be backed up, so be economical by choosing which to back up wisely. The three types of data that need to be backed up are: 

• Data that your business needs to operate, process transactions, fulfill orders, and render services
• Data that you need to have updated copies of for regulatory compliance (such as protected health information)
• Data that you need to protect for contractual obligations
. 

For the last two types, we highly recommend consulting with legal counsel. Yes, this will cost a little extra, but the legal fees will be small compared to the damages you might become liable for if you lose your only copy of these types of data.

2. Set your data backup priorities

Classify your data according to importance, then start backing up your most important data down to the least important. This way, if financial pressures limit your backup options, you can still mitigate your worst risks and know where you can draw the line for acceptable losses.

One way of sorting your data is via these three tiers:

Mission-critical data

Operations that are essential to your business cannot run without the apps, files, and data that belong in this tier. Therefore, they need to be backed up frequently and restored immediately in the event of data loss. Mission-critical data includes inventory databases, eCommerce transaction information, and logistics apps.

Business-critical data

This class of data refers to the types that could cause disruptions if they become inaccessible, but operations could still go on if workarounds granted even just partial access to them. To illustrate, payroll could still be processed even if access to your entire employee database was cut off, for as long as you somehow found a way to obtain at least your employee numbers and salary information.

Such workarounds buy time to allow mission-critical data to be restored first. But once these makeshift solutions become insufficient, business-critical data is escalated to the mission-critical level.

Further reading: Cloud storage: Is it safe?

Non-critical data

While neither mission- nor business-critical, data in this tier should nevertheless be lost or compromised. Examples include employee access logs and customer analytics.

Depending on the particulars of your business, you can wait a full day or more before having to restore non-critical data.

We’re always told to never put all of our eggs in one basket. However, people seem to fail to mention that baskets beyond the first also cost money.

3. Consider how much your backup solution will cost

Businesses will differ in terms of data backup needs, prior investments in IT infrastructures, and the size and composition of their IT teams. With these in mind, the optimal backup solution for your business may differ greatly from that of another’s, even if both have the same business proposition and are practically the same size.

To take the headache out of coming up with a cost-efficient data backup, turn to SimplyClouds. Cloud-based backup solutions are among the most economical in the market today, so let our cloud experts determine your needs and come up with a solution that suits your business perfectly.