Irish businesses need to utilise tiered data back-up storage to retrieve mission critical data quickly

Pro

8 December 2015

Data back-up and the ability to recover important data quickly are two of the most vital parts of a business’ data storage infrastructure, yet many companies fail in this regard.

Datapac, recently carried out a survey with TechPro magazine, and published a whitepaper looking at how Irish businesses are coping and capitalising on data. Two key areas assessed were the identification of mission critical data and data back-up.

Accounting details, customer resource management (CRM) and online transaction processing (OLTP) data usually fall into this category. Email is also important, particularly when you consider attached documents. Other important data will depend on the industry.

Backing everything up in the same way could mean businesses are spending too much money for the ability to recover data that can wait, or putting critical data somewhere that it can’t be recovered in time. This is why tiered data back-up storage is so important.

Most modern back-up and recovery solutions have the ability to segregate and treat data of varying levels of importance differently. Mission critical data should be backed up frequently and on fast systems that allow quick recovery.

“Our research shows that more than a quarter of Irish businesses are backing up at least part of their data in real time. This part only needs to be mission critical data, the rest can be left to daily storage options or longer”

Less important data can be stored on slower, cheaper cost-efficient systems. Prioritisation doesn’t have to be confined to mission critical and non-mission critical. There can be multiple tiers to any solution.

For mission critical data, the ideal scenario is real time back-up for many businesses, depending on their risk profile. Our research shows that more than a quarter of Irish businesses are backing up at least part of their data in real time. As highlighted, this part only needs to be mission critical data, the rest can be left to daily storage options or longer.

A further 63% of organisations are backing up daily, with the rest backing up weekly, monthly or even less regularly. Businesses need to analyse the data they have and see if it is suitable to leave it to these kinds of timelines – if not, it should be reined in accordingly.

Knowledge is crucial when it comes to back-up. Businesses need to agree strict Recovery Time Objectives (RTOs) with providers so it is clear when data is recovered. If mission critical data needs to be recovered in one hour, make this clear and agree on a solution that will provide it. The same process goes for tier two data and so on.

This way, if something goes wrong and recovery is needed, you can confirm to stakeholders, customers and partners, that the information will be available by a specific time.

Datapac places a huge emphasis on data backup and can help Irish companies identify and store it accordingly. We’re ready and available to discuss the bespoke needs of your business today.

David Kinsella is chief technology officer of Datapac