It’s a cold, bright Tuesday in Leeds. A thin layer of frost covers the ground as business owners across Yorkshire open their doors for another day of work. On Oakfield Street, two neighboring businesses – Briarwood Accounting and Hawthorn Digital Marketing – are settling in for what they assume will be a typical day.
Neither knows that by lunchtime, a blown transformer will cause a major power outage across their business park, and by day’s end, one company will recover smoothly while the other faces potential ruin…
Previously on the blog, we talked about World Backup Day – the time of year when we give thanks for our ability to keep critical business data secure at the touch of a button. Or, more likely, the day where you saw our post about it, realised you couldn’t actually remember when the last time you backed up that data was, and panicked.
Given that you definitely have backed up your systems securely since then, today’s blog might not feel too necessary. But just in case you need another prod, we’re going to show you what happens when you leave it all down to luck.
Business As Usual… But Not for Long
At Briarwood Accounting, Jennifer arrives early to prepare for a client meeting. She boots up her computer, checks her emails, and reviews the quarterly financial reports she’d been working on yesterday. Next door at Hawthorn Digital, Mark turns on the lights and prepares for a day of client campaigns and social media scheduling.
Both have been in business for about five years. Both employ a team of eight. Both serve local Yorkshire clients and have ambitions for growth. But their approach to data backup for businesses couldn’t be more different.
Jennifer invested in a comprehensive backup solution when she started Briarwood, heeding advice from her IT consultant about the importance of data backups for financial businesses. Meanwhile, Mark at Hawthorn considers backups “something we’ll sort properly later” and assumes his files are safe in the cloud whenever he clicks save.
At 11:43 am, the lights flicker. Computer screens go black. The power outage has hit.
When Disaster Strikes
In both offices, UPS systems beep, providing emergency power to servers for a controlled shutdown. Staff reach for their phones as emergency lights click on. The property manager announces it appears to be a transformer issue, with repairs likely taking 4-6 hours.
Jennifer calmly tells her team to head home or to the coffee shop down the road. “We can work remotely. All our files are backed up and accessible. The server shutdown should be clean, and even if there’s corruption, we have last night’s backup intact.”
At Hawthorn, Mark feels the first flutter of panic. Their main project files are stored locally on the office server. Sure, some things are in Microsoft 365, but their complete client campaign materials, including videos and imagery awaiting approval for tomorrow’s launch? Those are on the server that just abruptly powered down.
“No worries,” he tells his concerned team. “Everything’s backed up to the cloud, right?”
But is it?
The Harsh Reality of Poor Data Backup Practices for Businesses
As the afternoon progresses, the differences in these neighbours’ approach to cyber security in Yorkshire becomes starkly apparent.
Briarwood’s team continues working from home. Their cloud-based accounting software is accessible anywhere, and their file server has off-site replications that update every four hours. Client meetings proceed via video calls instead of in-person. By 3 pm, they’ve notified all clients about the temporary office closure with minimal disruption.
At Hawthorn, Mark discovers the truth about his “backup” system. Yes, some documents are in OneDrive, but it turns out many team members save files directly to their desktops or the local server. The automatic cloud sync he assumed was happening? It was never properly configured.
When power returns at 5:30 pm, Jennifer’s team logs in remotely to confirm all systems are functioning correctly. A quick check of their backup logs shows their 3-2-1 backup strategy performed exactly as intended (more on that in a moment).
At Hawthorn, Mark watches anxiously as their IT support person tries to recover data from the server, which failed to restart properly. The hard drive has developed bad sectors – possibly damage that had been emerging for months but went undetected without regular system checks. And as for the local backups on external drives, the last one was run three weeks ago, meaning nearly a month of work could be lost.
The next morning, Briarwood continues business as usual. At Hawthorn, Mark’s feeling less chipper. He’s preparing to apologise to three clients about delayed campaigns and potentially lose a major new contract due to missing the launch deadline.
The cost to Hawthorn? Approximately £12,000 in immediate lost revenue, potential future business valued at £40,000 annually, and around 160 hours of staff time required to recreate lost work.
All preventable with proper data backup for businesses.
What Does Effective Data Backup Look Like?
Good news for Yorkshire businesses concerned about cyber security – an effective backup strategy is as easy as 1-2-3. Well, 3-2-1, if you want to be pragmatic:
- 3 copies of your data (minimum)
- Stored on 2 different types of media
- With at least 1 copy kept off-site
This simple formula provides comprehensive protection against virtually any data loss scenario, from hardware failure to ransomware attacks.
Why Do You Need Both Onsite and Offsite Backups?
Double assurance is the key benefit. Should something happen to one location, you’ve got copies safe in another.
- Onsite backups: Located inside your building/office, they provide faster data retrieval and typically retain data longer.
- Offsite backups: Stored in a separate location, these remain secure even if your office experiences a fire, break-in, or other physical disaster.
It’s worth noting that offsite facilities are professionally managed with strict security protocols. Only authorised personnel have access, which should ease your concerns about data being housed beyond the office.
Some might see multiple backups in multiple locations as overkill, but in a world where cyber threats are shapeshifting by the day and we never truly know what’s around the corner, it pays to be prepared.
How Often Should You Back Up Your Business Data?
The frequency of backups depends on your business type and service level agreements with your IT service provider. There are three primary backup types:
- Full backups: Complete copies of all data, typically performed weekly for most SMBs due to storage and time requirements
- Incremental backups: Copy only files modified since the last backup (full or incremental), usually performed daily
- Differential backups: Copy all data modified since the last full backup, often scheduled several times weekly
For most Yorkshire businesses, a combination approach works best: weekly full backups with daily incrementals, ensuring the importance of data backups is addressed without excessive system drain.
What Impact Does a Robust Backup Plan Have Day-to-Day?
Actually, very little – and that’s the point. Properly configured backup systems run in the background without affecting performance. Your systems won’t run slower or faster, but you gain:
- Peace of mind
- Business continuity assurance
- Regulatory compliance
- Protection against data loss scenarios
The true value of backups becomes apparent only when you need them – just like insurance.
Beyond Blackouts: The Importance of Data Backups
Power outages represent just one risk to your data. A comprehensive backup plan should account for multiple threats:
- Cyber attacks: Ransomware and malware can encrypt or destroy data
- User error: Accidental deletion or overwrites happen regularly
- Hardware failure: All equipment eventually fails
- Software corruption: Applications can corrupt their own data
- Natural disasters: Floods and fires don’t discriminate
How to Ensure Cyber Security in Your Yorkshire Business
Just as power outages are only one danger in a network of many, data backups for businesses are one single part of your overall security strategy. You can’t solely rely on them and not address other vulnerabilities in your IT environment.
Instead, you need a holistic cyber security strategy that includes:
- Regular staff training on security awareness
- Strong password policies and multi-factor authentication
- Current antivirus and firewall protection
- Regular software updates and patch management
- Encrypted data transmission
The Tale of Two Recoveries
Returning to our Yorkshire businesses, six months after the power outage, Briarwood Accounting has expanded, adding two new staff members. A good understanding of the importance of data backups meant zero lasting impact from the outage.
Meanwhile, Hawthorn Digital lost two key clients, spent thousands on data recovery services, and required staff to work weekends recreating lost materials. Mark now has a proper backup system in place – but only after learning a costly lesson.
Fortunately, both businesses are entirely fictional, so no-one loses out in this tale. Hopefully it still serves to illustrate that the question isn’t whether you can afford proper backups – it’s whether you can afford to go without them.
So, is your backup strategy ready for the unexpected?
Singularitee: Raising Expectations for IT Support in Yorkshire
At Singularitee, we’re passionate about exceeding expectations. Our team takes pride in creating a positive and collaborative IT experience right from day one.
They’ll work diligently to understand your business’s unique needs and seamlessly integrate suitable solutions into your existing infrastructure. By providing all our clients with the same core IT foundation, we ensure exceptional quality, reliability, efficiency, and reduced risk.
Don’t leave your business vulnerable – let Singularitee assess your backup health and ensure your data is protected. Get in touch today.
