Most organisations will recognise the importance of backing up your IT systems, and ideally will have a disaster recovery plan in place. Yet many disaster recovery and backup plans are old and potentially flawed. Do you know how long it would realistically take to recover your systems if they crashed? And would you be able to recover everything? 

Recovering systems after they crash can take longer than you might think, and for many organisations, data is lost. The costs to a business can be enormous and may include lost sales, lost productivity, legal liabilities, reputational damage, employee frustration, replacement of equipment, premium for IT expertise at short notice, and much more

Disaster recovery and backup are critical components of any business's overall IT and risk management strategy.  Effective management is crucial for ensuring the continuity of business operations, protecting data, and minimising downtime in the face of unexpected events or disasters. 

Key reasons for the importance of disaster recovery and backup include:

1. Data protection: this includes intellectual property, customer records, financial information and so much more. Backup solutions ensure that data can be recovered in the event of data corruption, hardware failures, or cyberattacks.
   
   
2. Business continuity: disasters such as floods, earthquakes, fires, cyberattacks or power outages, can disrupt normal business operations. If you think this can’t happen in Australian capital cities, consider the Brisbane floods or Melbourne earthquake, or the fact that heatwaves can lead to power outages that overheat servers. Disaster recovery plans allow businesses to continue functioning, even when their primary systems are compromised or unavailable.
   
   
3. Compliance and legal requirements: many countries or regions like the EU, or industry sectors will have specific regulatory and legal requirements in relation to data protection and retention. Failing to implement proper backup and disaster recovery measures can result in non-compliance, fines and loss of business.
   
   
4. Cybersecurity threats: are talked about so often because the frequency and sophistication of cyberattacks is on the rise. In the case of ransomware attacks, data is encrypted, and a ransom demanded for its release, which is why disaster recovery is essential.
   
   
5. Hardware and software failures: hardware components can fail unexpectedly, and software bugs of glitches can corrupt data without warning. Without backup, businesses risk losing valuable information and experiencing extended downtime.
   
   
6. Human error: it is not uncommon for an employee to unintentionally delete or modify critical data. Backup systems provide a safety net, allowing businesses to restore data to a previous state in case of accidental data loss.
   
   
7. Cost savings: implementing disaster recovery and backup solutions may involve an initial investment but will often save a business significant money in the long run. The cost of data recovery and downtime resulting from a disaster or data loss can be far higher than the cost of prevention.
   
   
8. Reputation management: organisational reputation takes a long time to build yet can be destroyed in a moment. If customers or partners perceive that their data is not adequately protected, it can damage the company's image and trustworthiness. 

The question of whether you have an effective IT backup system in place is therefore critical from a governance and business continuity perspective. 

For peace of mind, NineWire can review your existing systems and make recommendations if they fall short. For further information, contact the NineWire team on 1300 646 394. NineWire is a Melbourne based IT services provider.