THE ESSENTIALS. | ISSUE 001
The Short.
Your IT team says your backups are running. Great! But do you know what's actually being backed up, how much data you could lose, and whether anyone has tested restoring it? Let's look at three things every business leader should know about their backups.
The Insight.
Imagine arriving at work Monday morning to discover your company's files are gone.
You call your IT team. They assure you that everything is backed up.
What a relief!
Then you discover some critical files weren't included. Or the last usable backup is from Thursday.
Suddenly, Monday just got a whole lot worse.
What's actually being backed up?
Your business probably stores important data in more places than you realize.
Don't assume everything is covered. Some cloud applications offer recovery features, but that doesn't necessarily mean your business has the protection it needs.
Your IT team should be able to show you what's included, what's excluded, and why.
Not sure what should be on that list? Check out The More. section below.
How much data can you afford to lose?
Here's a question worth asking yourself:
If you lost everything today, would you be comfortable going back to yesterday's data? What about last week's?
If your business processes hundreds of transactions every day, losing even a few hours could be painful.
For another business, losing a day's worth of changes might be manageable.
There's no universal answer. Leadership needs to decide how much data loss is acceptable and make sure the backup schedule supports that decision.
When was the last successful recovery test?
A backup that reports "successful" doesn't guarantee you can recover your data.
Your IT team should periodically restore data from backups to verify that the process works.
How often? That depends on your business, how frequently your data changes, and how much risk leadership is willing to accept.
The important thing is to agree on a testing schedule and verify that it's being followed.
The Action.
Schedule a short meeting with your IT team to review your backup coverage, backup frequency, and recovery testing schedule. Identify any gaps and agree on a plan to address them.
The Questions.
1. Ask: What exactly are we backing up?
Listen for: A documented list of systems and data, including any known exclusions.
2. Ask: If we lost everything today, how much data could we lose?
Listen for: A specific answer based on backup frequency and a discussion about whether that amount of loss is acceptable to leadership.
3. Ask: When did we last test restoring our backups?
Listen for: A specific date, what was restored, whether the test succeeded, and when the next test is scheduled.
The More.
What's on your backup list?
Your business probably has important information stored in more places than you realize. Here's a starting point for reviewing your backup coverage with your IT team.
Employee computers: Files stored locally on laptops and desktops, including files outside folders synchronized to the cloud.
Microsoft 365: Exchange email, OneDrive, SharePoint, and Teams files. Verify what can be recovered and whether additional backup protection is needed.
Google Workspace: Gmail, Drive, and shared drives, if your business uses them.
Business applications: Accounting software, CRM systems, payroll, HR platforms, and other critical applications.
Servers and shared drives: Company files, databases, and applications hosted on physical or virtual servers.
Cloud services: Data stored in AWS, Azure, or other cloud environments.
Configuration information: Critical network, firewall, and system configurations needed to rebuild your environment.
One important point: Don't assume that because your data is in the cloud, it's automatically backed up in a way that meets your business's needs. Ask your IT team what protection exists and how recovery would work.