What is Backup and Recovery?
Tags: backup, operations
Published: 2022-12-15 12:35:00

Backup and recovery is the process of creating and storing copies of data that can be used to protect an organisation against data loss.  Sometimes you’ll hear it referred to as operational recovery. 

The process of backup typically involves creating regular copies of the data and storing them in a secure location, more often than not in a location away from the original data. 

In the event of data loss, the recovery process typically involves restoring the data back to the original location or an alternative location where it can be used in place of the lost or damaged data. 

## Why is backup and recovery important?
Backup and recovery is important because it helps to protect organisations against data loss. 

Data loss can happen for a variety of reasons, hardware failure, natural disasters, human error and cyber attacks are just some. 

Without an effective backup and recovery plan organisations run the risk of losing important data that is essential to their operations.  Loss of this data has the potential to result in financial losses, reputational damage and also loss of customer trust. 

For a backup plan to be effective it needs to be consistent, with backup copies taken on a regular basis.  A number of factors dictate how often those backups should be taken.  Typically speaking critical data should be backed up more often than data that isn’t critical to the organisation’s operations. 

## Determine which data is important for backup
In order to determine which data is important for backup, there are a number of factors to consider:
* The value of the data to the organisation
* The potential impact of losing the data
* The frequency of changes to the data
* The availability of other copies of the data
* The cost and effort of backing up the data

## The recovery process
The recovery process should be tested regularly, to ensure the backups can be successfully restored and the procedure to do so is understood. 

The last thing you want to discover during a data loss event is that the process of recovering isn’t correct or is missing a key component. 

It’s also key to work through the recovery plan in order to understand if it’s still relevant  to the organisation’s needs. Both from a data point of view and operationally. 

## What are the benefits of cloud backup
When thinking about the location of your backup using Cloud is an option.  There are benefits to using cloud backup: 
* Scalability: Cloud backup services can easily scale up or down to accommodate your changing data storage needs. 
* Accessibility: Data backed up to the cloud can be accessed from anywhere with an internet connection. 
* Security: Typical cloud backup services have advanced security measures, to protect any data against unauthorised access. 
* Cost-effective: Cloud backup services can be more cost-effective than traditional on-premises backup solutions. 

## Backup Solutions

There are a number of backup and recovery software solutions in the market.  For more information on the options available the [2022 Gartner Magic Quadrant For Enterprise Backup and Recovery Software Solutions](https://www.gartner.com/doc/reprints?id=1-2AQYKVXU&ct=220803&st=sb) report is a great starting point.