Everyone. Ok, maybe not everyone, but most people. Most companies experience some data loss, whether accidental file deletions or lost laptops. Some companies experience major data loss, maybe a database server crashes, or an email server dies. Ideally, they have a backup solution in place. Ideally it works. Ideally, they have tested it and are confident in it. For many companies, it isn’t a top priority, and the testing happens when they really need it, after some disaster or data loss. Even tech-heavy companies lose data or have gaps in their backup strategy. I have personally had sleepless nights trying to recover data that was backed up but untested (if you trick me into a few beers, i may even tell you about nearly losing a company’s ERP database). Some people a lot smarter than anyone writing or reading this have had data loss impact their jobs and lives. What is lame is that it could all be avoided by backing up properly. Here are some examples:
Ma.gnolia, the online bookmark competitor to delicious lost data in January ‘09.
Journalspace shut down in January ‘09 after a PO-ed ex-employee zapped their database, which wasn’t backed up.
The Linkup online storage company lost 45% of user data on 8/08/08
These are companies that specialize in tech-heavy data management, and they didn’t have themselves covered. Do you? Here comes the commercial…if you don’t, ask your IT consultant about The Backup Plan, or do what you know you need to and start backing up!
