What Nonprofits Need to Know About Data Backup and Disaster Recovery
Data Backup and Disaster Recovery
Data is the backbone of any modern nonprofit organization. Regularly backing up your data and having a disaster recovery plan in place will ensure a business is safe from inevitable pitfalls like human error and system crashes.
A disaster recovery plan is a comprehensive method to ensure the safety of data. This often includes colocation of servers and offsite backup of data.
Backup plans are essential as well, as the majority of loss of data is attributed to human error.
Data backup and disaster recovery plans can also protect from external attacks on a company such as use of ransomware and viruses. In addition to attempting to steal data, these external attacks may also erase data. Creating and executing both a data backup plan and a viable disaster recovery plan are the best methods to ensure data protection in case of disaster or cyber attack.
Numerous nonprofit companies utilize Microsoft Office 365 and its corresponding programs for their day-to-day operations. Most companies tend to neglect that Microsoft does not ensure backup of data resulting from any computer or human errors, leaving loss of data from a deleted OneBox file or an employee leaving to chance. One small hiccup like this can result in numerous negative consequences to a company.
Microsoft uses the exchange server to save some mishaps in their email infrastructure and other programs, but it does not guarantee protection in the case of a system crash or deleted data. It is recommended to have an additional backup plan to help ensure data is backed up correctly and isn’t lost permanently. Microsoft only bears the responsibility of ensuring their global data infrastructure is running correctly; backup and data retention are the personal responsibility of Office 365 users.
Microsoft’s policy for lost or deleted data is pretty binding; unless there is an attempt to retrieve the lost data in a time-sensitive manner, any data that has not been lost recently will most likely be unrecoverable. As such, Microsoft clearly states that “point in time” retrieval of data is out of the scope of their services. This is a further reason why data backup and a disaster recovery plan are necessary for your organization.
Fairdinkum offers both colocation of servers and extensive disaster recovery plans with numerous services included. Fairdinkum will identify the vital parameters such as Recovery Time Objective (RTO) and Recovery Point Objective (RPO) to construct the most cost-effective disaster recovery plan.
Some of the other benefits of our disaster recovery plan include secure server hosting in Fairdinkum location in Virginia, periodic testing, and 24/7 monitoring; this comprehensive coverage of data will provide the best insurance for an organization’s data.
Also included is offsite storage of data, meaning even after a disaster at the physical location of a company, the data will be stored safely in a remote location so business can resume with minimal friction.
Being proactive in backing up data and constructing a disaster recovery plan will lead to a great return on investment, as it will prevent monumental loss of data and capital. Contact our experts today for a security check or download our Security Audit Checklist for Nonprofits below to audit your existing security posture.