What is Backup Strategy – 4 Tips for Creating a Successful Backup Strategy

A backup strategy is a plan to ensure that essential business data is backed up and ready to restore in the case of data loss. Organizations suffer from any downtime due to data loss, so it is crucial to minimize downtime as much as possible. Backup and disaster recovery (BDR) is essential to guaranteeing ongoing business operations.

An estimated $4.45 million was lost in 2023 due to data breaches and losses, a 15% increase over three years, according to IBM. Experts predict this number will continue to increase in the coming years as the IT industry evolves.

According to the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), ransomware is the leading cause of data losses or breaches. This is why the agency continuously launches information awareness initiatives, such as its Cybersecurity Best Practices and #StopRansomware.

How to create a backup strategy

Building a backup strategy can initially seem daunting, but it becomes much more manageable when broken down. A good starting point is to use designated backup software because the tools included in the software will be built to make backups easier. With the right tools in your hands, a backup strategy can be created with ease.

One commonly used plan is the 3-2-1 strategy. This entails having at least three copies of your data in different places, two copies on different mediums, and one copy somewhere off-site. This strategy aims to diversify where your backups are stored to ensure that your data is protected against any type of data loss situation.

This is an excellent standard strategy based on your organization’s backup strategy. But, this strategy only covers where your backups are stored, and should only serve as a baseline. You’ll need to buildon other elements that will significantly impact how successful your backup strategy is.

4 Steps to Building an Effective Backup Strategy

1) Determine Data Importance and Availability

Each industry has various kinds of data they collect. Therefore, it’s essential to be aware of which data is crucial for ongoing business operations. Because then you can prioritize the backup of that particular data.

Critical business data should also be available soon after a data loss event. First, decide how soon you’d like any lost data to be available. Then, weigh it against the cost and resources of deploying and maintaining backups of various sizes. This often means deciding between onsite, offsite, or cloud-based backups.

2) Decide on Frequency and Regulation

When it comes to backing up your data, regulating the frequency of backups matters quite a bit. There are multiple backup types to choose from, and each can have varying frequencies.

In the case of a data loss event, the data you’re able to retrieve depends on the frequency of your backups. So, you’ll only be able to retain the most recently backed-up data. You’ll have to find a way to regain any lost data.

This is also where regulation is key. Think about the amount of data your business currently has and how much it produces. Then, consider how often all of this data needs to be backed up. Finally, the regulation of your backups allows you to take control of and maintain your backup frequency and quality.

3) Deployment

The next step is to deploy your backups after you’ve thought about and planned how you’ll back up your data. For example, will you manually back up the information? Or, will you assign it to a device or system to carry out the task?

It would be best if you also created a schedule. This would be based on the frequency of backups and data availability you decided on previously. Ensure that the number of times you deploy your backups matches your goals as part of your backup strategy.

4) Test your Restore Process

The final step for creating an efficient backup strategy is to ensure your backup procedure works through testing. It is never wise to assume that your backup strategy works without trying it out. A backup strategy ultimately fails if it doesn’t manage to back up your data and restore it seamlessly.

Testing can be performed through simulations. The simulations replicate what would happen in the event of actual data loss. When testing is carried out, it can provide you with important information. Some examples include how quickly you can get your company back online. It also helps to show any issues with the backup and restoration process you might have overlooked or not known about previously.

You may also view this short video on ‘Backup Strategy for Small Business Guide’.

Who needs a backup strategy?

Any organization with any sort of data stored on a device will need to create a backup strategy. Doing so will significantly decrease downtime and support ongoing business operations. Though some strategies may require less planning, work, or detail, every backup strategy is essential to continued business success. Having some type of backup strategy outlined in advance will equate to far less stress if data loss occurs.

With its advanced backup technology, NinjaOne’s data recovery software is designed to safeguard your digital assets. 

Read more about it. 

Best Practices for Backup Strategies

Diversify your backups

There is always a risk with storing and preserving any digital information. Accidents and disasters come unexpectedly. So, it’s impossible to know the perfect backup process for any data loss event.

A smart move to prepare would be to diversify your backups. You can do this by either sending them to multiple locations or storing them on different mediums.

Document your backup strategy

Once you’ve formulated your backup strategy, document and include it as part of your business processes; recording your backup strategy will increase the efficiency in which it is carried out and improve overall business outcomes. Check out IT Documentation best practices for tips on effectively documenting your strategic backup process.

Create a schedule

In most cases, performing one backup daily shouldhelp you reach your backup goals. As such, make sure you create a daily task to accomplish that. Set up a schedule in your organization to have backups consistently carried out by someone or a system. Performing them regularly will help to guarantee the safety of your data.

Automate

It can be challenging to remember to backup the data every time you schedule it.This often means that some backups get missed. Unfortunately, most businesses can’t afford to simply “forget” to backup their data, which is where automation comes into play.

You can altogether avoid human error by using designated backup software with automation to schedule backups you don’t have to oversee.

Test restore

The whole reason organizations back their data up is so they can restore it in the future if needed. Thus, a backup strategy is only as good as its ability to restore the saved data effectively. Test your backups’ restore ability by using simulations that mimic actual disasters and data loss.

Continuously monitor

Make sure you don’t simply forget about your backup strategy. It is helpful to set it up, so you rarely have to interfere or fix anything, but that doesn’t mean you should let it slip from your mind. Consult backup reports regularly so you know what data was backed up, how it was backed up, and how it can be restored if needed.

Backup Strategy Success with NinjaOne

There are many necessary steps involved in building an efficient backup process and best practices to keep in mind. However, creating a customized backup strategy will lead to tremendous success for your business. Read about NinjaOne’s backup success with Red Road Networks to hear about their success in using backup.

See backup success for your business by trying out NinjaOne’s free trial.