Why backup?

Increasing amounts of data to protect
Businesses of all sizes are witnessing an explosion in the volume of data. Whether it is the result of the Internet, e-mail or increasingly heavy and media-rich application software, there is a massive growth in the volume of data all around. Conservative estimates from IDC place data growth at approximately 80% per year, in their 2007 report “The expanding digital universe”, IDC estimate the size of the digital universe (information that is either created or captured digital form), as 161 billion gigabytes. By 2010, IDC predict that this will have increased more than six fold to 988 billion gigabytes. Much of this data is a key asset of any company, and losing it would cause severe damage.

Data under threat
Even with the most reliable computer hardware and software, there is always the possibility of something going wrong. The most common causes of data loss include:

1. Human error – accidental file deletion, over-writing of files etc.
2. Hardware failure - Disks that are used constantly, or have not been
    properly maintained may suffer from mechanical failure, over time heavy
    file-loading or new software can cause the system to shutdown or reboot,
    alternatively automatic file updates can cause a system to reboot when
    files are still open and in use.
3. Software corruption can also corrupt data files to make them inaccessible
4. Virus attacks - every day new viruses are released into the open, and anti-
    virus companies release updates to combat the problem. Virus attacks
    have been steadily on the increase causing business data to be ever
    more vulnerable.
5. Natural disasters – even with robust hardware, software and virus
    protection, the threat from fire and flood remains.

With the majority of these threats tape backup, archival and offsite secure storage provides a key defence and the crucial ability to retrieve lost data.
Recreating data can be very costly; however the full financial impact is likely to be more dramatic. The full picture includes loss of revenue, loss of customers, low productivity, legal action and worse, possibly your entire business. The ability to recover from critical data loss can mean the difference between business survival and closure. According to the National Archives and Records Administration:

Eighty percent of companies without well-conceived data protection and recovery strategies go out of business within two years of a major disaster

Compliance with Government regulations
Recent world events including acts of terrorism, natural disasters and large-scale company fraud have resulted in a new raft of legislation designed to protect company data from loss or corruption. This legislation includes:
  - Sarbanes-Oxley Act,
  - Graham-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA),
  - USA Patriot Act,
  - Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA)
  - European Union Data Protection Act

Compliance with any or all of this legislation means one thing; organizations are required to store, manage and safeguard a lot more data than they might otherwise feel compelled to on their own. This, in turn, has lead to the need for more storage capacity and more efficient methods of backing up, retrieving and archiving data.

Data Protection for SMBs
Little wonder then, that an IDC Study of US SMB Spending conducted in 2006 showed that IT spending is growing faster for SMBs than for larger enterprise organizations. Furthermore the study reported that the top SMB driver for “planned spending” on additional storage capacity over the next year was data protection and disaster recovery.

The key to successful disaster recovery and data protection is regular backup within the structure of a robust disaster recovery plan. This plan should include secure off-site storage and regular testing and evaluation of backup procedures, hardware, software and personnel.

 
     "80% of companies
     without well-conceived
     data protection and
     recovery strategies go out
     of business within 2 years      of a major disaster"
     
       Source: US National Archives
       and Records Administration