Data loss can have lasting effects upon your business, usually measured in lost productivity and capital. In other words, data loss is often measured by the cost required to retrieve, restore, and/or repair its effects. Of course, this is only the beginning of how data loss can impact your operations.
Data Loss Implies More than Just Lost Data
While there is no denying that, when considered alone, data loss is a critical blow to your business, there are additional effects that are caused by data loss that can be more problematic. First and foremost, you have your employees to consider.
You’d be hard-pressed to find a task in business operations today that didn’t require data in some way, shape, or form. Considering this, try to calculate a rough estimate of the impact that a critical bit of data being lost would cause. This is dependent upon what kind of data was lost. If the data belonged to a client, the sensitivity of the data would be important to consider. There’s even an online tool available to help establish if an incident has gone over the parameters outlined in your agreement.
Furthermore, the value of data factors into other considerations as well, that may not immediately come to mind during a data loss event.
Other Concerns, Regarding Customer Confidence
Never mind losing the data for a moment – what happens to the customers whose data you’ve lost?
First, let’s consider how you would likely react if a business you had entrusted your data with suddenly came to you explaining that your data was just gone. How would you react?
There are a lot of factors that ensure that your contacts will find out, as well. Many industries are beholden by law to inform their business associates that their data has been breached. These legal requirements are also influenced by the state one does business in, what data is stored, even how the data loss took place.
As a result, you could easily find yourself struggling with a public relations nightmare, further impacting the confidence of your customers and clients.
To prevent this all from happening, you need to have the right solutions in place. Machado Consulting can deploy a comprehensive backup and disaster recovery solution. To get started, give us a call at (508) 453-4700.
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