5 Common Causes of Data Loss & How to Guard Against Them

Disaster can strike at any time and take critical data from your systems along with it. Unfortunately, many small and medium-sized businesses do not have the right backups in place to maintain their data in the event of a disaster. Ensuring your company has a reliable backup plan in place is vital to keeping your business safe and running without issue. After all, can you really afford to lose all that data?

Below, we discuss common causes of data loss and how your business can safely guard against them.

1. Accidental Deletion

Not all accidents leading to data loss are natural disasters or hacking situations! Sometimes you may just delete the wrong file or overwrite sections you didn’t intend to overwrite.

As part of running your business, you are constantly updating files and moving them around, so the chances of you or one of your employees accidentally deleting an important document without backing it up are high.

Businesses often lose data simply because they don’t have the proper workflow or document management process in place.

2. Damaging Malware

Your computers are constantly at risk of viruses that could attack your operational software, internet connection, and your stored data. Data loss may just be a side effect of some of the larger damage done to your entire system. Protecting your system with anti-virus software will ensure your systems and documents never become compromised.

3. Mechanical Breakdown of Your Hard Drive

Your hard drive is one of the most delicate parts of your computer due to all of the moving parts inside it. It is the most common device within your computer to breakdown. Recovering data from a faulty hard drive can be expensive, and there’s no guarantee that even a professional can completely recover your data.

Regularly backing your data off your hard drive removes the risk of losing all your important business records to a delicate hard drive.

4. Theft

There is always the danger of someone stealing your equipment while you’re traveling, while it’s in your car while you’re at the gym, while you’re working in a coffee shop, or anywhere else you may leave your laptop unattended.

Your new computer costs money, but the  data on your hard drive is priceless. If you use a proper data backup strategy and keep your important data in a safe place off your hard drive, then you can recover the data even if you can’t recover the computer.

5. Natural Disasters

Fire, flooding, power outages—all the things you think will never happen to your office—can cause data loss. Even if you’ve stored all of your data on an external hard drive, if it’s in the same building as the rest of your data, you probably still lost it all.

Backing up your data with a comprehensive cloud strategy will protect your data even if your office building is smoldering.

Protect Your Data with IMS Technology Group

IMS Technology Group can help you create a comprehensive, full-service technology solution to protect your business against the common causes of data loss. With our cloud computing services, data backup strategies, and document management solutions, we can help you achieve your digital transformation.

Contact the IMS Technology Group team today to get started!