Washington Works Blog

If you are a subscriber and frequent reader of this newsletter, you’re probably familiar with our campaign to educate business owners, managers, and even your average worker on the importance of backing up data. In this month’s newsletter we’ll describe incremental backup and how it works as the best scenario for small business data redundancy.

We haven’t been shy about how essential data backups are, simply because there is always the chance that your business will encounter some form of disaster… but, what if something interferes with these backups?

This danger is one reason that immutable backups are utilized. Let’s go over what this means, and how it helps.

World Backup Day is March 31st, each and every year. However, while there is value to having a dedicated holiday to raise awareness of the need for backup, it should not be the only time it is considered. Let’s go over the importance of proper backup practices, just in time for the holiday, so that you can establish the backup that your business needs if it's not already in place.

Unfortunately, we have yet another reason to reflect on the importance of data backup, disaster recovery, and business continuity for organizations everywhere. A week ago today, Hurricane Beryl made landfall in Texas, downgrading to a tropical storm, but only after it had already caused estimated damages totaling over $5 million amongst the islands of middle America.

Disaster Recovery (DR) provides your business with tools and processes to restore normal operations following a disruption. Think of it as a safety net for when things go wrong. The primary goal of your disaster recovery system is to restore critical business functions as quickly as possible.

You don’t want to take chances with something as important as your data backup. In the past, businesses would use tape backups performed manually at specific intervals to back up their data to physical drives for storage. However, tape backup has largely become obsolete compared to modern solutions like automated backup and disaster recovery (BDR).

We often discuss data backup and disaster recovery on our blog, and you may even be familiar with some of the terms and practices we throw around. Today, we want to take a closer look at the 3-2-1 rule and how it impacts your business’ ability to recover in the face of a disaster. Let’s dive in and see how the 3-2-1 rule can make or break your company’s data infrastructure.

When you suffer a data breach, you might wonder how you can possibly come back from such an event, especially if it leads to a network compromise. Can your business rebound effectively, and if so, what do you need to do to make sure that it doesn’t happen again? It all starts with understanding how much data you need to function, as well as how much downtime you can afford to suffer from.

We routinely discuss the importance of a comprehensive data backup strategy. With so many workforces incorporating remote work into their operations, making such preparations is extremely important. Let’s go over some of the key steps that you need to take to secure your business’ data from loss.

I hope I don’t have to tell you how important your business’ data is to its continued survival, just as I hope I don’t need to explain why this makes this data a priority to protect, regardless of your business’ size. What I do want to explain is the concept of the 3-2-1 Rule and how it pertains to your data backup, and why we would recommend that one for your business’ purposes.

Having a comprehensive data backup and recovery strategy in place can absolutely save your business. This means it’s extremely important. Unfortunately, too many businesses don’t consider their backup and recovery systems until it is too late. Let’s unwrap what makes a successful backup and recovery platform work, and how to get one for your business.

Unfortunately, the more people lean on technology, the more data breaches there are. The correlation makes sense, but with so much innovation in data security and data systems, it’s a shame more can’t be done to keep businesses and individuals from losing data to opportunists and scammers. That’s why knowing how to circumvent these forces is essential to keep your data safe. Let’s take a look at how the people that are best at it keep their data secure. 

If you look hard enough, there is a “novelty” holiday for just about every day of the year. While many are of the fun and goofy variety, like March 13 being National Earmuff Day and March 28 being National Something On a Stick Day, others are used to remind us of important ideals and practices. Let’s take a few moments to shine a light on those days dedicated to important information technology concepts (even though we’ve technically missed National Technology Day, on January 6, Data Privacy Day, on January 28, and National Clean Out Your Computer Day, on February 8).

Know it or not, your business takes in and creates a lot of data. Most of this data, like most items and information, isn’t worth much. Some of it, however, is crucial to your business’ ability to operate. If a situation comes along where you are faced with the prospect of losing your data, it will be much better to have a backup plan in place than not.

With a lot of business owners being extra cautious about their spending and doing what they can to prevent unexpected interruptions they are doing everything they can to prevent data loss. This month, we thought we would tell you how data redundancy can help towards this goal.

Your data is vital for your organization’s continuity. Your data consists of everything from your company documents, accounting records, client contact information, prospects and leads, procedures, and everything else needed for you to keep operations running smoothly. That’s why all businesses need a solid backup solution that is monitored and tested regularly.

The threat landscape is filled with more types of malware than ever. To keep your business’ network running effectively, it’s important to have a strategy to keep malware out. Today, we’ll talk about a few basics you should know to keep your cybersecurity strategy working properly.

Let me ask you this: does your business have a dedicated data backup and disaster recovery system? If not, we need to talk. A comprehensive backup and disaster recovery platform (BDR) can turn out to be one of the most critical parts of managing a business’ IT infrastructure. By having a plan to turn to in the event a serious problem such as ransomware or a natural disaster descends upon your business, you can be better prepared. 

Data loss is no joke - and we’ve heard plenty of stories from people who have experienced it firsthand, when personal or business data was lost. We appreciate everyone who shared their experiences with us, and allowed us to post them here. First, we’ll tell the story of someone who learned something in college that wasn’t in the syllabus.

Don’t forget to share your own stories with us in the comments!

Managed services offer businesses an improved means of obtaining and managing the technology they rely on. With data being so important to the modern business, much of this technology is devoted to storing, securing, and leveraging this data. Working with a managed service provider can help a business get the most value out of their data management practices. Let’s go over how.