Regardless of the type of nonprofit you operate, all organizations have one thing in common: You manage a wealth of personal information, and the importance of data backup is paramount.
Nonprofits handle information from a variety of people, including employees, volunteers, board members, donors, and even subscribers receiving your weekly emails. This kind of data is essential for conducting day-to-day operations, growing your organization, and providing customers with effective services.
Still, that same information can also be a vulnerable point — or even a target.
Recognizing the importance of data backup, implementing a comprehensive backup and recovery plan for your nonprofit’s data is critical. Here are five reasons why.
[Related: Data Security Best Practices for Law Firms]
1. Keeping Your Organization Compliant
Backing up your data is a great idea for a variety of reasons. However, it’s also probably a step that nonprofits must take.
While the U.S. doesn’t have specific national statutes in regards to nonprofit data backups, each state and sector has specific privacy policies and regulations for managing, sharing and securing confidential data.
Implementing an effective data backup plan and following state policies for reasonable data security practices help your organization remain compliant.
2. Protecting Against Ransomware with Data Backup
Cybercriminals are a significant cause of data loss. A recent study shows that 68% of all organizations have experienced a cyberattack that compromised their confidential data.
One of the most prevalent forms of cybercrime is ransomware. Hackers send a download link or attachment that encrypts or locks up an organization’s data when clicked. For users to safely access the data, the hacker demands a ransom in exchange.
Backing up your nonprofit’s data can make wiping your systems clean and restoring this information viable solutions.
[Related: Healthcare Cybersecurity: Where To Start]
3. Safeguarding Against Disaster and Human Error
Data backups can also safeguard information in the common cases of human error or natural disaster.
Human error can occur in so many forms: a coffee spill, a dropped laptop, a lost tablet or an accidental file deletion. While these types of errors typically affect only a small amount of data, they can still create obstacles for your nonprofit’s daily business operations. That’s especially true if the data in question is personal, financial or time-sensitive.
Natural disasters, like earthquakes, fires, floods and hurricanes, can also damage any organization. If your organization stores data on-site only, a natural disaster can be absolutely devastating.
Having backups of your nonprofit’s data — particularly on a software-as-a-service platform like the cloud — can make restoration simple.
4. Minimizing Downtime with Data Backup
Data backups also minimize downtime. They allow your staff to focus on getting back to furthering your organization’s mission in a shorter time if data loss occurs.
The cost of downtime can be extremely harmful to operations, especially if you work with a smaller nonprofit organization. Even if you don’t lose revenue directly during a data breach, you undoubtedly suffer from lack of productivity because all efforts go toward restoring data.
Having easily accessible and managed backups helps your team move smoothly through the recovery process to prevent high costs and keep everyone on track.
[Related: The Importance of Cybersecurity for Engineering Firms]
5. Maintaining Your Reputation
Let’s face it: If your organization suffers a loss of confidential data, you’re going to lose some trust among members, donors and the public.
Maintaining a positive reputation is an invaluable asset for nonprofits. That reputation allows people to believe in your cause and trust that you know what to do to further your mission. Maintaining managed backups can ensure your organization’s data — and your reputation — is secure.
Have a Solid Data Backup Plan With Professionals Like CMIT Solutions
At CMIT Solutions of Bellevue, we understand the struggles, IT concerns, and the importance of data backup that nonprofits face.
Many nonprofits suffer cyberattacks that result in data loss. Then, they discover that their accessible data backups are either outdated or nonexistent. This type of loss can be extremely detrimental to your organization’s goals.
CMIT Solutions team members are leading industry experts. When it comes to data backups and recovery services, we’ll get you back up and running in no time.
Contact us today, and let’s get started!
Featured image via Pexels
