michelangelus - Fotolia
Top 2018 tips for data backup plans include GDPR, Office 365
Without data backup planning, you won't have a strong recovery. As threats and data volumes continue to grow, it's important to keep up on the latest backup trends.
In the backup world, it was another big year for the cloud. The market has moved beyond simply cloud backup into other areas -- for example, multi-cloud and cloud-to-cloud, two areas we cover in our top tips of 2018.
Many data backup plans received new scrutiny from organizations trying to comply with the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which went into effect in May. The sweeping new law -- affecting customers who live in the EU, as well as organizations that store data in the EU -- includes many new rules around data privacy and security, and backups are part of it.
If you need a few quick-hit advice pieces to improve your data backup plans, you've come to the right place. In addition to specific tips on backup -- see: GDPR and Office 365 -- we provide some more general advice to improve your planning.
Multi-cloud takes off
With so much stored in the cloud these days, the ability to protect data across multiple clouds has become important. With data sprawled in many different locations, it's critical to have a handle on it all and make sure you're properly backed up. Explore some of the top vendors in multi-cloud backup and best practices for implementation.
Pay attention to GDPR
GDPR is in place now. Not only is it important to be in compliance for legal purposes, but reviewing your data backup plans is just a good, healthy business practice. We provide five steps around protection and backup that will help secure your organization in the wake of the new regulations and improve how it handles data in general.
Office 365 needs backup
Data born in the cloud is growing in volume and popularity, on such platforms as Office 365, Salesforce and G Suite. That data needs protection. Often, it's in the form of cloud-to-cloud backup. With Office 365, it's not just Exchange Online and email messages that should get backed up. Here, we detail the Office 365 elements you should include in your data backup plans. One general rule to keep in mind: Think of that data as if it were on premises. You'd back that data up, right?
Test, test, test
This next piece of advice for your data backup plans is not rocket science, but it bears repeating: You need to test your backups. Not just once every couple of years or every so often -- you need a regular schedule of testing backups. Once you work it into your typical routine, it becomes just that: routine. This piece details 10 backup testing best practices that will help your organization be more equipped in the event of an unplanned incident.
Backup planning
We close out our top tips of 2018 with a general guide to backup planning. From planning for increasing data volumes to taking another look at tape to thoughts on compression and deduplication, these guidelines for data backup plans cover a lot of ground.
It's always a good time to review your backup strategy. With so many threats out there, from cyberattacks to natural disasters, you need to be ready to recover -- and fast. These days, there's almost no tolerance for downtime. So, be prepared.
