The Importance of Backing up your Business Email Data

I’ve got a scenario I’d like you to imagine. I assume like most people, you probably own a smart phone, smart device, or a laptop or computer of some form. You have your favourite pictures, video games, movies, all your documents and data; and then something happens. Maybe you lose your device, maybe you break your device in an accident; but suddenly, your data is all gone. You neglected to back it up, and now you need to go through the painstaking, arduous process of manually backing up and replacing your data. No one enjoys doing this, of course. Now I want you to imagine the same scenario but related to your job – if suddenly, you lost all the contacts you need to reach every day, the emails you needed to hold onto holding pertinent information, and a mass database of contacts, information, and important details. This scenario alone should show you the incredible importance of backing up email data related to your business. Despite this, you’d be surprised to learn that according to one study, 85% of businesses do not daily back up their data, and only %15 back up their data at least once a day. This is a huge hole in cyber security, with all this important data for running businesses left out in the either with no safety net should something happen. We’ve gone through and compiled a few other arguments for why your business needs to begin keeping regular, full back ups of their data.

Backups Simplify Data and File Recovery

We’ll start off with the most obvious benefit of backing up your email data. Data can be lost in any number of ways, though typically they’ll either involve actively malicious threats (hacking, cybersecurity vulnerabilities) or external factors which can destroy your devices (floods, natural disasters, etc.) However, for those who take the time and are pragmatic about their backups; your file and data recovery will be a lot simpler than those without. It’s recommended to backup your companies data at least three times a day. In the morning when you begin business, mid day once your employees go on break, and in the evening before your business closes for its daily operations. These triple back ups are great, as they have an accurate filling of your information on an hourly basis, as opposed to daily backups which can still lead to data loss. Additionally, it’s recommended to ‘cycle’ your backups. This refers to the process of deleting older, non pertinent business data in order to make storage room for additional backups. By doing triple backups and cycling your backups, you ensure your data is up to date and easy to retrieve in the event of emergency.

Protection from Legal and Compliance Liabilities

Another important point for your backups being necessary is the protection it provides you and your business from a variety of legal and business compliance liabilities. Many industries, particularly those of healthcare, the government, transit and transportation systems, and large financial institutions have mandated email backup compliance they need to follow. While this may seem like a burden for your business to commit itself to, following proper guidelines for backing up high security information is a lot simpler than the possible ramifications caused by poor document and record keeping. For one, you may need to go through a long process of having your documentation audited by an outside, third party to make sure no laws involving finance or customer security has been breached. Additionally, things such as fines or even prison and jail sentences can be incurred if these compliance processes are breached by your company. Be sure to include the importance of backups and compliance in the training process for your teams.

Implement a Cybersecurity Structure

Remember earlier in the first point when we mentioned the risks of things such as a cybersecurity break or a hack attack? These are a great risk for any business who does the majority of their work online and through the internet. In fact, some recent findings showed over 53% of all businesses in the United States experienced at least one cyber attack within the past year. Of this, 38% needed to spend roughly $50,000 or more in response to these cyber attacks and the systems put in place to fend them off. This is why investing in your cyber security at the beginning of your business is essential. Not only does it protect you from future attacks which can incur heavy costs for both data recovery in the event of ransomware; but it also allows you to build a security team from scratch and at your own pace, as opposed to scrambling to assemble a team in a crisis situation.

For those still struggling with backing up their email data, thankfully there are a number of softwares available to automate and simplify this process. For one, you can utilize Dropsuite which is a cloud based email data protection service. It allows you to deliver your data securely and to store it safely in the cloud. Additionally, you can contact our professionals at Let’s Nurture who are happy to talk price consultations and solutions for your business.

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