Offsite backup needed to protect enterprise data

There are many risks that pose threats to enterprise data, so it's important that companies implement and practice effective backup strategies within their overall records management programs.

A recent report from IT Business Edge offered several tips that companies should follow to ensure that data protection measures are successful. Among them was the need to utilize offsite records storage as a backup policy.

By copying key data and storing it in a second location, the report stated, companies are better safeguarded against issues their networks may suffer.

"That way if something is wrong with one backup, you've got the others to fall back on," data management expert Matthew Dornquast told IT Business Edge in an interview.

Furthermore, when possible, backup data should be stored in a separate geographic location as the company itself. While this may create difficulties for recovering data quickly, it will ensure that a company's information remains unaffected by natural disasters - such as tornadoes, flooding and hurricanes - that may destroy a business' headquarters or its primary data storage system.

"We advocate a system where each different backup destination" is unique, the expert told IT Business Edge.

Other tips he revealed include the possible need for backing up multiple versions of data, recognizing the importance of data retention and archiving and the practice of backing up data whenever possible to ensure it is updated, according to IT Business Edge.

Results of the recently released 2011 European Disaster Recovery Survey conducted by Vanson Bourne revealed that companies may need to rethink their data protection strategies. More than half of respondents said they have experienced loss or downtime during the past year, and 43 percent cited lost productivity as the most significant impact.