The “Golden” Formula Behind a Successful Business Continuity Strategy

Digital transformation has completely enhanced the way we do business. However, organizations face devastating consequences when technology that powers day-to-day operations fails. In some industries, downtime can cost up to $50,000 per minute – equivalent to $3 million per hour.

The increase in cyberattacks, storage platform bugs, and inevitable occurrence of natural disasters has made disaster recovery and backup plans essential. Typically, enterprises have a two-fold system in terms of backup. A primary recovery source is typically located on-premises; a secondary system is created either on-premises at a different data center location or in the cloud. In the event of a disruption and the primary storage system is unavailable, there is usually replication on the second system to get businesses running.

However, if disaster strikes and both systems fail – such as in the event of a ransomware attack or accidental or malicious deletion – the organization is suddenly facing an existential risk: unless they had the foresight to create a third copy as part of a more comprehensive, risk-averse approach. Creating this third copy is more than just a matter of simple duplication. There are typically two approaches to third copy data protection.

The first approach involves creating a third and additional system; this is often created using another technology or media so it can be replicated at a different schedule and kept away from the primary or secondary system. The second – and arguably more effective approach – is to have a “golden” copy of critical data that resides in the cloud, be that public, private, or on-premises cloud – a choice that comes down to individual needs and priorities.

The Advantages of the Golden Copy Approach

Creating a golden copy is a simple, cost-effective way of ensuring continuity in the event of a disaster or data breach. Identifying only business-critical data allows organizations to keep the cost of storage down. Once this data is identified, it can be isolated in a physical “bunker” in the cloud that is completely separate from the primary and secondary storage systems, creating an air gap that inhibits ransomware or other errors from seeping into the third copy. In the event of an interruption, the data can easily be moved at a granular level to any network-attached storage (NAS) or object system. Alternatively, businesses could also point their applications to the golden copy while they work on getting their primary systems back online.

Another advantage of the golden copy approach comes with the fact that limited people have access to the bunker. Apart from technical threats such as bugs and malware, there is always the danger of user error. Employees themselves cause a lot of problems, often unintentionally. One of the most significant benefits of the golden copy approach is that people cannot identify the bunker data in the primary data centers or cloud. There is no indication that the bunker exists. By keeping the location a secret and only allowing a few personnel to know of its existence, organizations protect themselves against internal and external threats.

Ready to Create Your Golden Copy?

No matter the type of storage systems your organization has, DobiProtect^® allows you to easily store your business-critical data at a granular level to any NAS or object system in the event of a business interruption.

DobiProtect can be purchased as software only or delivered as a service. For more information, please visit the DobiProtect product page.