7 Common Mistakes with Data Storage to Avoid for Small Businesses
Appropriate data protection and storage is vital for any business. However, without a reliable data backup system, any protection or storage mechanism put in place will be of no use. Data backup will save the business from inconveniences that may result in data loss.
However, data backups are also prone to mistakes, especially for small businesses. Understanding the mistakes with data storage is essential for keeping your information safe.
Thankfully, some businesses have committed these mistakes before and are willing to share with you, so you avoid making the same. Here are seven common data storage mistakes you must avoid.
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Not Planning for Disasters
Both cloud and physical data storage are prone to disasters that can result in complete data loss. These include malware attack, theft, destruction, or natural disasters. Such inconveniences will interfere with your operations and even jeopardize important customer information.
You need to plan for potential disasters and any issues that may interfere with your storage system. If you use manual data storage, ensure you often carry out the fail test. Even for cloud storage, you must come up with an appropriate data recovery mechanism and a security system to protect you from common cyber threats.
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Not Using the Right Data Storage
Data storage solutions come up every day, and having several options to choose from can be confusing. Every company will claim to have the best option, but the truth is that not all of them will work for you. You need to find a storage solution that meets your specific business needs.
To ensure you don’t fall into the trap of all the hype in the market, choose storage providers that take the time to assess your business’s specific needs. Make sure you only settle with a solution that suits your business infrastructure and budget.
Don’t rush into choosing a data storage provider without a proper background check and all the necessary due diligence. Consider asking essential questions such as how much ram do I need for specific types of data storage. How much that will cost, etc.
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Storing All Data Physically
For a small business, physical data storage may appear to be perfect and reliable. Well, this method is cheap and appears very accessible. But your business is going to grow sooner or later, and your data will grow too.
Apart from your business outgrowing the physical storage, this type of storage also exposes your data to dangers such as floods, fire, and theft. Your business needs to join other businesses that have migrated to cloud data storage to benefit from the peace of mind that comes with business and personal data security.
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Inconsistency Mistakes With Data Storage
For perfect data storage, you need to have consistency with all the plans and systems used. One way to ensure consistency is to come up with a schedule for backing up all your data. For instance, if you’re a startup, weekly backups can work well for your business and daily for remote workers.
If your business uses more data, you should work on improving the backup system’s consistency. More frequent data backup ensures the reliability and safety of all your essential data. A consistent backup system minimizes failures and mistakes that may result in data loss.
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Treating all Data Equally
Every data for your business is meant for performing specific tasks hence can’t be treated equally. Generalizing everything can expose your data to theft or carelessness that results in data loss.
Everything from storage, deletion, and retention should be geared to the specific use of the data. You can also come with classification methods that categorize data based on their value and usage method.
You should also categorize according to sensitivity, public, internal, and restricted. Give those that you often use top priority as you’ll be accessing them most of the time. Also, don’t neglect those that you don’t use.
Your business should develop policies that dictate how each data should be stored, backed up, retained, and deleted. This way, your company can avoid unnecessary confusion that can waste a lot of time.
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Not Backing Up Data at All
This mistake may look surprising, but the truth is that many small businesses still disregard data backup. Not backing up your data can be a grave mistake that you can expose your business to. Unfortunately, reports show that 39% of SMBs don’t have a response plan in case of incidences that may result in data loss.
With a huge number of businesses suffering data losses every day, your business will not be spared from any inconveniences. Not backing up your data can be a big risk. Human error, malware attack, and natural disasters can befall your data at any time.
The only way to avoid such from happening has a secure data backup system in place. Don’t take anything for granted as you never know when disaster may come knocking.
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Not Being Frequent With Data Backup
Your business may be backing up all its data, but how frequent is the backup system? As your business grows, you’re going to download, share, retrieve, and update files. The more these activities become frequent, the more often your business will need to back up the data.
The more your business interacts with data, the more frequently it will need backup to ensure their safety. Data loss can happen any time, and the only way to minimize this is to ensure frequency in the backup.
You Must Avoid All Data Storage Mistakes
Mistakes with data storage are common with either large or small businesses. Your business is not exempted either, and you need to take necessary precautions to avoid mistakes that can be costly for your small company.
To avoid falling into the trap, understand all these data storage mistakes, and work on avoiding them. Take all the necessary precautions and adopt the right data backup and storage solutions.
Once you’ve done that, you can come back to this site for more tech information to help you run your business in a digital way. Our educative articles are always ready with all the information you need.
