3 Data Backup Challenges Organizations Face and How to Solve Them

Data backup is essential to secure data, sustain business operations and prevent unexpected situations that may result in data loss. However, many organizations require assistance with prioritizing and maintaining data backup.

Read on to learn about three common issues that organizations face related to data backup and how one solution can solve all of them.

As companies expand, it’s typical for them to acquire legacy backup and recovery systems. Over time, handling several backup and recovery solutions can become a laborious task without having a centralized reporting system for their data protection readily available.

Internal resources often spend a significant amount of time validating protection across different environments and checking the success rates of daily backups. In addition to their regular workload, employees also have to allocate time to manage multiple vendors with different renewal dates for hardware and software, as well as support and refreshes.

It is of utmost importance to uphold strict compliance with privacy and security regulations to safeguard important data and applications from any inadvertent disclosure of confidential information. Service-level agreements, compliance regulations and the reputation of the company mandate the requirement for accessibility, security and effective management of data.

IT teams often find managing data maintenance to be a challenging task, especially when security compliance is taken into account. Dealing with both aspects can be a difficult feat, especially when resources are scarce.

Backing up data may seem like an additional expense with no financial return for organizations, especially without a centralized reporting system. However, the cost of losing data can be far more significant.

Acronis reports that despite downtime due to data loss in 2020, 76 percent of organizations still experienced downtime and data loss in 2021 — a 25 percent increase from 2020.

To ensure seamless access to vital data, applications and resources during service disruptions, it is imperative to have data backup. This is because data loss can occur as a result of ransomware attacks and user errors, which can have a significant impact on the smooth running of organizations. Therefore, it is crucial to prioritize data backup in order to mitigate the risk of such disruptions that have cost some organizations millions of dollars.

Optimizing backup solutions can greatly benefit organizations by saving time and resources. According to CompTIA, managed services providers are becoming the preferred partner for companies that lack the internal resources to support their business's technology needs.

In certain cases, opting for BaaS can be a cost-effective solution for organizations. Some providers offer the flexibility to customize BaaS packages according to the specific needs of applications, budget and data protection requirements of the organization. This may include the ability to mix and match features to create a custom fit for an organization’s environment.

By implementing a managed BaaS provider, businesses can streamline their backup operations and avoid the hassle of maintaining multiple solutions. This approach offers centralized control, scalability and adaptability while simultaneously enhancing system performance and visibility for improved uptime.

When choosing a managed BaaS provider, it's crucial to ensure that they are well informed about the latest industry security regulations. This ensures that their BaaS solution can provide proper segregation of client data and encryption, allowing data to be encrypted both in transit and at rest. This is a critical requirement to consider when selecting a provider.

BaaS can also reduce the chances of ransomware attacks as well as user errors. This ultimately helps maintain business continuity and increases customer satisfaction, particularly when the organization is storing valuable customer data.

Story by Justin Haase, who is a director of managed services at CDW. With more than 20 years of experience deploying, managing and upgrading enterprise systems. Justin Haase currently leads the IBM Power and the Backup and Recovery specialties within CDW Managed Services. Throughout his career, Haase has assisted in the development of IBM certification tests pertaining to IBM i and AIX and is also a published author for multiple Redbooks and Redpapers related to IBM Systems. He was an integral part of deploying the CDW Power Cloud starting in 2010 on POWER7 systems and the teams within his organization have designed and continue to innovate CDW’s managed Backup as a Service offerings.