March 31, 2018 is World Backup Day. Data is a commodity, but unlike other commodities--it can be replicated without hurting its value. As a result, data backup has become a critical need for the modern business. World Backup Day has been created to remind people to protect their assets by backing up their files.

Data Backup is now a mission-critical process that is neglected far too often, unfortunately. In fact, studies show that 30 percent of people have never backed up their data - despite being inundated by a myriad of situations where data could be lost, stolen, or corrupted. With 113 phones being stolen every minute, and 1-in-10 computers being infected with viruses and malware every month, protecting your data has to become a priority. Frankly, data is a very easy thing to lose without the right precautions in place, which is precisely why World Backup Day was created to promote data protection.

Nobody wants to see an organization fail, and the statistics for a business’ survival after a data loss event indicate that if you are not strategically protecting your digital assets, your company is one situation away from catastrophe. Maintaining a comprehensive data backup can negate the effects of such an event, allowing your business to bounce back.

In order to do so effectively, however, there need to be certain standards met by any backup solution your business puts in place. They include:

Redundancy
It isn’t uncommon for businesses to streamline their operations, eliminating redundancies wherever they can. When it comes to data backup, the opposite is actually preferable. To optimize your data’s survivability, your backup should consist of more than one copy of your data - safety in numbers, so to speak.

Frequency
Of course, there’s a limit to how useful an older data backup will be for your business. The progress that would be lost between the time of the backup and the time of the data loss incident would be less effective than one that is current. The best data backups are taken frequently enough to protect your progress without causing downtime.

Off-Site
Your backup won’t do you much good if the same disaster destroys it along with your original data. To keep this from happening, you need to make sure that your backup is kept separate and disconnected from your network.

Your business needs its data in order to be successful. Observing World Backup Day is a great opportunity to ensure that it will be safe. Visit the official World Backup Day website for more information.