In business, data loss refers to an unforeseen loss of data or information. There are several root causes for data loss, and although there have been many backup and recovery efforts made over the last few years, more often than not, data loss is permanent.
Studies have consistently shown hardware failure and human error to be two most common causes of data loss, accounting for roughly three quarters of all incidents.
A commonly overlooked cause is a natural disaster. Although the probability is small, the only way to recover from data loss due to a natural disaster is to store backup data in a physically separate location. Be it the recent earthquake in Peru, or the ongoing wildfires of California, an offsite data backup is critical for the security and longevity of your organization's data.
The cost of data loss is directly related to the value of the data and the length of time that it is needed, but unavailable. Consider:
- The cost of continuing without the data
- The cost of recreating the data
- The cost of notifying users in the event of a compromise
There is no guaranteed way to prevent data loss. However, the frequency of data loss events and their impact can be greatly mitigated by taking proper precautions.
Consider using battery backups around your office to protect against surges and power failures. Similarly, regular backups are an important asset to have when trying to recover from a data loss event.
Finally, consider using external software hosting or an ASP software solution, to ensure that mundane tasks such as maintaining antivirus protection and network firewalls, and staying up to date with all published security fixes and system patches does not compromise your data.
Replicon mitigates this common issue by offering it’s time tracking and expense management solutions in a hosted version via web browser, thus reducing any chance of data loss or corruption through redundancy in their servers and daily backups of data.
User education is probably the most important, and most difficult, aspect of preventing data loss. Nothing else can substitute user education, preventing them from making mistakes that jeopardize data security.
