Disaster Recovery Journal

At the end of the day, the real value of a data protection system lies in its ability to restore data when and where needed. If data fails to restore successfully, some part of the business is going to suffer, possibly with costly consequences. As a result, reliability is a key measure of a solution’s ROI.

 You could have the best, most expensive, fastest data protection solution in the world, but if your data cannot be retrieved and used in a timely fashion, the point is moot.

By Jacque Rupert, Avalution Consulting
Originally posted on Avalution Consulting’s Blog

We see a lot of confusion specific to the topic of force majeure. Often, executive management has the belief that force majeure clauses in their contracts protect them from a wide variety of disruptive events, and thus they may not invest appropriately in business continuity plans and strategies. However, the concept of force majeure is somewhat convoluted and often includes many variables. As a result, if an organization does not plan appropriately, it may actually be left unprotected and vulnerable to claims of breach of contract in the event of a disruption.

Are you tired of calling your data protection vendor and having them tell you that your issue is a hardware problem only to have the hardware vendor point the finger back to the solution provider? Finger pointing is a huge waste of time and can actually cause major disruptions in service.

When choosing a data protection solution, look for one that offers peace of mind through world-class customer support as well as subscription and support (maintenance) contracts, which provide enormous financial value to customers.

As you know the more resources and information you have easily accessible, the easier it is to make smart, educated and informed decisions. Articles, research studies and case studies do go a long way in providing this information but sometimes you just need to see the plain and simple details.

This is where the DRJ Business Continuity Glossary comes in very handy. Our comprehensive and recently updated glossary gives you all of the tools and knowledge you need to better research, analyze and understand the business continuity space.

There was once a time when we could leave our doors unlocked without fear of losing our prized possessions, and there was once a time when we could type credit card numbers into our browser without fear of identity theft. Sadly, this is no longer the case; we must take extensive security measures every day, even when using the cloud. 

When analyzing the security of your data, it is important to remember that your information is only as safe as your weakest password. So, if your password for your favorite social networking site is “password123,” it is safe to assume that your other personal information can be easily compromised. Make your passwords impossible to guess, mix them up with a combination of letters, numbers, and special characters and change them on a regular basis. 

When keeping pace with growing data, a major concern for IT organizations, in terms of both storage and data protection is how the data protection solution will handle the growth.

IT organizations can drive up the cost of storage unnecessarily by treating all data the same and storing it all on the same media. Let’s face the fact: my resume is not as important as the payroll database or even the email database. So, why are you using the same storage policy for both?

Stop using one policy to rule all of your data. It might be simple, but it is killing your bottom line. When looking for a data protection solution, find one that allows you to use policies to treat data differently.

When looking for someone to hire to add an extra bedroom to your home, you have to perform thorough research to find the perfect individual that will suit your personal needs. So, why wouldn't you do the same when it comes to searching for a web host? Before jumping into a contract with a company, you will need to do your homework. 

The ideal cloud hosting provider should be able to deliver a solution that is easily scalable with minimum effort at the most optimum price, resulting in lower costs and thus improved productivity. Still, selecting the perfect hosting provider can be difficult due to the vast amount of competitors on the market. How do you find your right match? 

When keeping pace with growing data, a major concern for IT organizations, in terms of both storage and data protection is how the data protection solution will handle the growth.

If your business has grown its capacity by 40-60 percent in each of the past three years, and it now supports billions of data objects, you need a solution that grows with you. This growing of capacity may be outpacing your data protection solution and you may need to find a way to scale your protection.

Do you have different products to protect different types of data or different systems? If so, you need to start thinking about standardizing on a single product.  Think of all the time, training and resources you would save.