At Lightsafe, we understand the critical importance of a robust data backup and recovery strategy tailored to the unique needs of each organization. Here's an initial outline structure, to help you craft your own organisational data backup policy and ensure resilience and continuity.
Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity: Prioritize the recovery of recent live data in the event of data loss, aiming for minimal disruption to business operations.
Responsibility and Data Management: It's crucial that all data managed by the IT department is backed up consistently. Data stored locally on individual desktops or laptops may fall under the personal responsibility of each staff member. You might consider storing critical data on provided network drives or central email services to ensure security and recoverability.
Regular Backup Schedules: Weekly full backups and daily incremental backups may be sufficient to safeguard company data. Full backups are retained for a minimum of three months, while incremental backups should be kept for an absolute minimum of one month.
Secure and Automated Processes: It may be appropriate to perform backups during off-peak hours and complete by the start of the working day. Automating the transfer of backup media to a secure, offsite location could add further disaster recovery protection.
Access Control: Limit access to backup applications and media to authorized personnel only, and establish a formal process for third-party data requests.
Automation and Monitoring: Leverage IT backup systems designed for automated operations, requiring no manual intervention. Set procedures to regularly monitor backup operations and address any failures promptly to ensure data integrity.
Encouraging Cloud Storage: As a cloud-first backup service, Lightsafe offers ultra-reliable file/machine storage, with the Local Backup option providing further data availability, redundancy and security.
Quick and Reliable Access: Data should be readily available for restoration soon after a backup job completes, adhering to the defined retention policies to minimize potential data loss.
Streamlined Request Process: All data recovery and additional backup requests might be directed to an appropriate IT Service Desk for efficient handling and support.
Regular Reviews: The IT department might be responsible for managing and reviewing the backup policy annually or as needed to adapt to any significant business changes.
These seven points are simply a starting-point to help you implement and integrate a best-practice backup policy that works for your own organisation. As a first step, it should at very least enhance your preparedness for any data loss incidents, ensuring your operations can recover quickly and efficiently.