Data is a very important component during the age of computers.  When you lose data it can compromise a lot of important information, which often amounts to uncompromisable losses. Due to this companies have moved to innovative data backup solutions from traditional data protection solutions to ensure a clean recovery for access during a crisis.

What is Data Backup?

Backup is the process of creating a copy of the data on your system that you use for recovery in case your original data is lost or corrupted. You can also use the backup to recover copies of older files if you have deleted them from your system. It can be highly sensitive customer data or sensitive business information, you never want to find out that a large chunk or even all of your data is gone.

What Is The Importance Of A Data Backup?

The purpose of the backup is to create a copy of data that can be recovered in the event of a primary data failure. Backup copies allow data to be restored from an earlier point in time to help the business recover from an unplanned event. It can be highly sensitive customer data or sensitive business information, you never want to find out that a large chunk or even all of your data is gone.

What Are The Various Challenges Of Data Backup?

There are various challenges that occur while backing up your data. The biggest data backup challenge is ensuring that backups occur on a timely, scheduled basis. This means confirming that backups are actually happening, as well as capturing the correct data. There are various other challenges that occur while backing up your data. Here are 5 leading backup and recovery challenges that can provide you with a great safety net and the most benefits to your business.

Determine The Exact Storage Space For Backup

Data growth is unpredictable. Many organizations can’t anticipate the growth in the amount of data they require to archive and thus end up having a data backup system with less capacity. If you purchase too much, you will lose money and waste resources. If you purchase too little, you will have nowhere to store data. 

Missing And Corrupted Data

Backup data can be corrupt for several reasons. The media device can get damaged due to poor handling or due to years of use. This can give you the error that essential files are either corrupted or missing, which makes it challenging to know when you created the last accurate backup.

Cyber Attack

Backup solutions are designed to protect your organization’s data, but sophisticated malware is now targeting your backup data. Their attacks enter an immediate environment from an endpoint and head straight for your backups where 80 per cent of enterprise data is currently stored, deleting or compromising everything there before taking over the production environment. Preventing ransomware from succeeding in the first place starts with reducing your enterprise attack surface and knowing what data you have and where it is located.

Lack Of Expert Staff

When the only one who knows how to manage backups in your organization goes on vacation or leaves the organization. Who will make sure that all data is securely stored? No doubt the organization will run in storage space. 

Power Failures

Power outages are bad for your data. Sometimes you might feel that unexpected loss of power to your computer might pose a relatively low risk, but that’s not the case. When there is a power outage, it causes an unexpected shutdown of your server or system, which in turn takes its toll on the components of your computer. It can interrupt these delicate procedures rendering your computer inoperable.

Conquering the Data Deluge: Top Backup and Recovery Challenges for Travel Tech Companies in 2024 

In the dynamic world of travel technology, data reigns supreme. From managing intricate booking systems and personalized customer experiences to fueling real-time travel insights, travel companies rely on a continuous flow of information to function effectively. However, with this ever-expanding data landscape comes a paramount responsibility: ensuring its protection and swift recovery in the face of unforeseen disruptions.

Here at Systrix, a leading provider of travel technology software solutions, we understand the crucial role data backup and recovery plays in your business continuity. But navigating the intricate world of data protection can be a complex endeavor. This in-depth exploration delves into the five most prominent backup and recovery challenges faced by travel technology companies, offering practical solutions and best practices to help you conquer the data deluge.

Challenge 1: Ensuring Reliable and Scheduled Backups – The Cornerstone of Data Backup & Security

The foundation of any effective backup strategy lies in consistency. Just like meticulously packing your essentials for a seamless vacation, scheduling regular backups is vital for ensuring you possess the necessary data to restore operations in the event of a system failure. But how can you be certain your backups are happening, capturing the correct data, and functioning as intended?

Solutions:

• Embrace Simplicity and Centralized Repositories: Ditch the juggling act! Instead of managing a multitude of backup solutions scattered across your infrastructure, consolidate your data into a single, centralized repository. This simplifies oversight, streamlines management processes, and provides a clear picture of your overall backup health. Solutions like cloud-based data management platforms often offer centralized repositories that integrate seamlessly with various applications.
  
• Shared Responsibility and Knowledge Transfer: Don’t leave data protection to chance. Designate a team responsible for understanding how your backup systems operate. This ensures knowledge transfer within your organization and avoids single points of failure in your backup process. Encourage continuous learning and stay updated on the latest backup technologies and best practices. Consider industry certifications like Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) for team members responsible for data security.
  

Leveraging Automation for Enhanced Efficiency:

In today’s fast-paced travel industry, manual processes can be time-consuming and prone to human error. Explore the power of automation to streamline your backup routine. Many modern backup solutions offer automated scheduling capabilities, allowing you to set pre-defined backup intervals for different data categories. This ensures consistent data protection without relying on manual intervention.

Enhancing Backup Reliability through Monitoring and Verification:

Scheduled backups are just one piece of the puzzle. To guarantee the integrity and effectiveness of your backups, implement a robust monitoring and verification system. Schedule regular test restores to validate the functionality of your backups and ensure you can retrieve data successfully in the event of a disaster.

Challenge 2: Preventing Missing and Corrupted Data – Safeguarding Your Data Arsenal

Imagine this scenario: a critical system outage occurs, and upon attempting restoration, you discover crucial data files are either missing or corrupted. This chilling scenario highlights the importance of data integrity in your backups. Missing or corrupted data can significantly hamper recovery efforts and lead to substantial delays in resuming normal operations.

Solutions:

• Proactive Planning and Understanding Risk Tolerance: Not all data loss scenarios are created equal. Conduct a thorough analysis of your business needs and determine the acceptable window for data loss. Some travel companies, like those managing real-time flight schedules, may require near-instantaneous backups to minimize disruption. Others, such as those focusing on historical booking data, might tolerate a few hours of data loss.
  
• Tailored Backup Frequency and Versioning: Based on your risk tolerance, establish a backup schedule that prioritizes essential data with more frequent backups. Consider implementing a tiered approach, assigning higher backup frequencies to critical customers or booking information. Furthermore, explores data versioning functionalities offered by many backup solutions. Versioning allows you to maintain multiple copies of your data at different points in time, enabling you to recover data to a specific point if necessary.
  

Continuous Data Integrity Checks and Error Correction:

Scheduled data integrity checks are crucial for preventing data corruption. These checks can identify potential issues like file inconsistencies or errors within your backups. Many backup solutions offer built-in data integrity checks, or you can explore third-party data validation tools. Additionally, consider implementing data scrubbing techniques to proactively identify and correct errors within your data sets before they impact your backups.

Challenge 3: Aligning Data Backup with Application Architecture – A Symbiotic Approach

 Aligning Backups with Application Architecture – A Symbiotic Approach

• Harnessing the Cloud’s Flexibility with API-Driven Backups : Programming Interfaces (APIs) that allow for seamless integration with your travel technology applications. This enables you to leverage Data backup solutions specifically designed to address the unique needs of each application within your system. API-driven Data backup offer granular control over what data is backed up and how frequently, ensuring a more efficient and comprehensive backup strategy.
  

Challenge 4: Prioritizing Your Data Backup – Identifying Your Most Valuable Assets

Not all data is created equal. Financial transactions, customer information, and real-time booking systems hold significantly more value compared to general logs or marketing materials. A well-defined prioritization strategy ensures your most critical data receives the highest level of protection.

Solutions:

• Data Classification and Business Impact Analysis: Develop a comprehensive framework that categorizes your data based on its importance to your business operations. Conduct a thorough Business Impact Analysis (BIA) to assess the potential consequences of data loss for different data categories. This analysis will help you determine the recovery time objective (RTO) and recovery point objective (RPO) for each data category.
  
• RTO and RPO: Defining Your Recovery Window: The RTO refers to the maximum tolerable downtime for a specific application or data set in the event of a disaster. The RPO defines the acceptable amount of data loss that can occur before a recovery is initiated. By understanding your RTO and RPO for different data categories, you can tailor your backup strategy to meet these specific recovery needs.
  

Tiered Backup Approach and Resource Optimization: Implement a tiered backup system that assigns different levels of importance to various data categories. This allows you to optimize resources while ensuring the most critical data receives the highest level of protection and fastest recovery time. For instance, highly sensitive customer data might be backed up continuously to the cloud with near-instantaneous recovery capabilities, while historical logs might be backed up less frequently to a secondary storage solution.

Cloud-Native Solutions and Scalability: As your travel business grows, so too will your data volume. On-premise backup solutions can struggle to keep pace with this exponential growth. Cloud-based Data backup solutions offer inherent scalability, allowing you to easily increase storage capacity as your data needs evolve. Additionally, cloud solutions often leverage geographically distributed storage, providing an additional layer of redundancy and disaster recovery capabilities.

Challenge 5: Shielding Against the Ransomware Threat – Building a Fortress Around Your Data Backup

Ransomware attacks continue to plague businesses across all industries, and travel companies are prime targets due to the sensitive data they handle. A successful ransomware attack can cripple your operations, potentially leading to data loss, reputational damage, and significant financial repercussions.

Solutions:

• The 3-2-1 Backup Rule: A Multi-Layered Defense: This industry best practice outlines a comprehensive approach to data protection: maintain three copies of your data, in two different formats, with one copy stored offsite. This redundancy minimizes the risk of data loss even if a ransomware attack compromises your primary backups. Consider storing one copy of your backups on an immutable storage solution, which offers write-once, read-many (WORM) capabilities, making it tamper-proof and resistant to ransomware encryption.
  
• Fortify Your Defenses with a Robust Security Posture: Relying solely on backups isn’t enough. Implement a robust security infrastructure that includes firewalls, intrusion detection systems (IDS), and endpoint protection software to deter ransomware attacks before they can infiltrate your network. Additionally, maintain a rigorous patch management process to ensure all systems are up-to-date with the latest security updates that address known vulnerabilities.
  

User Education and the Human Firewall: Employees are often the unwitting entry points for many cyberattacks. Implement regular security awareness training programs to educate your staff on identifying phishing attempts, suspicious emails, and social engineering tactics used by ransomware attackers. Encourage a culture of cybersecurity within your organization and empower employees to report any suspicious activity.

Better to be safe than sorry

Things happen, things can go wrong. You should be thinking about the best way to protect it from harm. If you are backing up business data, sit down with your team to determine what needs to be stored and how often the Data backups should occur. Taking the time to plan a strategy is usually quick and affordable, but if you think your monthly subscription fee is too high, just think about how much you’ll lose if you don’t have anything backed up.

Running into storage problems? Systrix will allow you to manage existing storage requirements and predict future needs. Optimize storage capacity and find the best storage deal for you.

Partner with Systrix and conquer the data deluge! Contact us today. to learn more about our data management solutions.