Both small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) rely heavily on data to drive their operations. In fact, analysts expect the amount of data that SMBs store and process globally on a daily basis to grow to more than 180 zettabytes by 2025.
That same data also allows SMBs, especially small businesses, to serve their customers well while maintaining a competitive edge. However, data loss is an unfortunate possibility at any organization, large or small.
Data Loss and Small Businesses
Loss can occur for many common reasons:
- Hardware failures
- Cyberattacks
- Human error
- Natural disasters
Without proper backup measures in place, your company’s data remains at risk. This can be an especially hard hit for small businesses to overcome. Implementing a robust data backup strategy helps prevent you from losing valuable information that may be detrimental to your operations when compromised.
Here are some everyday benefits of robust data backup for small businesses to keep yours running smoothly.
[Related: Data Privacy Trends: 2023 Roundup and Preparing for the Future]
Data Loss Protection
Data loss often occurs unexpectedly and can have serious consequences for small businesses. There were more than 3,205 data loss cases in the U.S. in 2023 alone, affecting hundreds of millions of users.
Whether your data consists of financial records, customer information or proprietary data, losing this information — even a little of it — disrupts workflow, not to mention damages your business’s reputation.
With a robust data backup solution in place, you ensure professionals regularly back up critical data sets. Even better, you can restore them quickly if lost.
Minimized Downtime
Downtime is costly, and it’s especially harmful for small businesses. As a small organization, you likely relate to these three factors:
- Being independently owned and operated
- Having fewer than 100 employees
- Earning less than $10 million in annual revenue
With a small team and a tight budget, your staff’s productivity and company revenue are vital resources to protect.
That said, not all organizations have the resources to staff in-house IT professionals or data crisis teams to solve problems. If your business suffers data loss, other staff have to try to conquer problems they aren’t trained to solve. Alternatively, they’re at a standstill while third-party IT experts combat the issue.
Meetings, client projects, vendor invoice payments and more are then on hold until someone solves the data crisis — whether from a system failure, cyberattack or something else. As a result, you may lose money, customer satisfaction and loyalty.
And of course, you lose precious time that you can’t get back.
When professionals effectively back up your data, you can better ensure your business quickly recovers from disruptions and maintains operational continuity.
[Related: How To Increase Cyber Security While Working Remotely]
Compliance and Legal Requirements
Many industries have strict data protection and privacy regulations:
- Financial
- Healthcare
- Real estate
- Law
- Education
- Engineering
- Nonprofit
- Manufacturing
- Technology
That’s a limited list. Consider the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the strongest data privacy and surety law in the world.
The GDPR’s main goal is to empower people about their personal data. When data is compromised, the people affected have rights they can exercise regarding how someone compromised their information.
And small businesses that handle sensitive information must also comply with regulations, such as those in the GDPR, to avoid potential penalties and legal consequences.
The stronger your data backup solutions are, the better you meet compliance requirements. You store data more securely with documented audit trails, and thus it’s less likely to suffer loss or misuse.
[Related: How Managed IT Can Help Ensure HIPAA Compliance]
Improved Decision-Making
Data is a valuable asset that can provide insights into your members’ and clients’ behaviors — and your business’s performance!
With routine data backups, your organization can take valuable actions:
- Access historical information
- Analyze trends and patterns over time
- Learn how your business can do better (and see where it has thrived)
This data-driven approach enables informed decision-making so you can identify opportunities to drive growth and mitigate risks when possible.
[Related: How Would Multi-Layer Defense Help Your Company?]
Enhanced Security
Data security should be a top priority for small businesses — and any business, at that!
With an increasing number of cyberthreats per year, enhanced security measures are becoming a greater concern. The World Economic Forum reports that cyber losses doubled in a four-year span (2019 to2022), up from 40% to a shocking 80%. And 2023 activity tracked even higher numbers.
Your small business can bolster its security from ransomware and other threats via these measures:
- Data backup
- Encryption
- Authentication
- Strong passwords
- Access control
- Limited data access
- Thorough employee training
- Data masking
- Incident response plans
Plenty of other security actions are available to protect your data from unauthorized access, but the list above is a good place to start.
[Related: Managing Cloud-Based Security]
Cost-Effectiveness
Investing in data backup solutions may seem like an overwhelming expense for small businesses, but it can save you money in the long run.
Consider a ProStatus study reporting that small businesses spend 6.9% of their revenue on IT support. Based on that percentage, they state backup and recovery efforts cost about 0.5% of that same annual revenue. So if a business earns $10 million per year, they likely spend around $50,000 on data backup strategy.
Then, consider the potential costs of data loss, recovery efforts and downtime. In comparison, the financial pitfalls far outweigh the investment in reliable backup strategies.
[Related: Why Small Businesses Shouldn’t Cut Their IT Budgets]
Peace of Mind
You certainly shouldn’t disregard this benefit! Knowing that professionals have securely backed up your small business’s sensitive information provides you with pure peace of mind.
Rather than worrying about potential data loss scenarios, you can focus on growing your business and serving your customers. Plain and simple, robust data backup solutions offer reassurance, even in the face of unforeseen events.
As a result, businesses like yours can recover quickly and continue operating without major disruptions holding you back.
[Related: How To Identify Six Different Types of Hackers]
Contact CMIT Solutions of Bothell for Robust Data Backup Support
Any small business that’s committed to success and longevity should consider data backup a nonnegotiable priority. Whether you’re looking for prevention measures, recovery solutions or compliance guidance, CMIT Solutions of Bothell is here to help.
Contact us to learn more about our services or to get started today. Our vetted IT experts are eager to get started!
Featured image via Pixabay
