Why leadership should be involved in data backup policies

Why do backup policies matter?

Data backups involve making a copy of data and storing it in another location so you can recover the data if the original is lost or corrupted. Having a data backup policy in place is critical for establishing how data is copied, where it is stored and how often backups are performed. These policies are key to ensuring data resilience and maintaining an effective business continuity and disaster recovery plan.

The following are some areas where backup policies can make a big impact.

Security breaches

Data is the most valuable asset a business can own. Because of this, it must be protected from all risk vectors. For example, bad actors might attempt to gain access to sensitive business data by taking advantage of unpatched software with security vulnerabilities, misconfigured IT systems that have overlooked entry points, or phishing techniques that target untrained employees.

Because of these data security risks and the potential for data loss, it's critical to back up data so it can be quickly recovered in an emergency. Recovering from security breaches can be incredibly expensive and time-consuming if you're unprepared and don't have a clear and robust backup policy in place.

Regulatory compliance

Organizations must adhere to data regulations and maintain compliance with them on an ongoing basis. These regulations are in place for a reason: They're often designed to protect data, whether that data belongs to customers, employees, or other organizations with which you do business. For example, HIPAA is a law designed to protect the security and privacy of sensitive patient information in healthcare settings.

Enforcement of these regulations includes financial penalties for noncompliance and other punitive measures for violations. Leaders should understand the importance of data compliance, but adhering to regulatory requirements is often easier said than done. Data backup policies can help organize data storage and implement standardizations that can simplify compliance and streamline audits. This can both improve backup compliance reporting efficiency and minimize penalties resulting from noncompliance. Data backup leadership also plays an important role in enforcing these rules across the organization.

Customer privacy

Customers are increasingly concerned about data privacy and protection and are skeptical of doing business with organizations that aren't transparent about how they use, store and secure their data.

Leadership must recognize the importance of transparency and design strong customer data protection strategies to effectively safeguard data and maintain privacy. Data backup policies are essential in defining and implementing these strategies.

For example, the C-suite can emphasize the need for data encryption in backups to ensure customer data is as secure as possible. They can also shape the messaging around how the business protects data and how it intends to collect and use customer data. This type of transparency and commitment to data privacy and protection can go a long way toward building customer loyalty.

Data storage and IT budgets

Data backups, when improperly managed, can lead to data sprawl. In other words, an organization collects and stores so much data that it becomes incredibly difficult and inefficient to manage. Having too much data can bloat data storage and IT budgets, as you'll need more servers to store data and more electricity to power them. For example, according to Gartner research, poor data quality management costs organizations $12.9 million annually on average.

Business leaders can use data backup policies to help manage this complexity and keep IT budgets lean. For example, backup policies can define what data should be kept, how long it should be retained, where it should be stored and how it should be organized. This can make it easier to find data when you need to recover it and help avoid storing irrelevant data. This efficiency can translate to better data management, leaner data storage and IT budgets that stay within more predictable (and acceptable) ranges.

How can leadership shape and enforce a backup policy

Whether you're just setting out to create a backup policy or refining your current one, the following are some best practices for data backup leadership:

• Define the goals of the backup policy. The primary goal of a backup policy is usually to create a comprehensive copy of critical data that can be easily accessed in an emergency to restore any corrupted or lost files. However, leaders can also identify other priorities for their backup policy, including demonstrating a commitment to customer data privacy and transparency and meeting compliance requirements. Leadership should define these goals at the outset of policy creation to ensure company-wide alignment.
• Meet with leaders across the organization. Every department uses data, so leaders from across the business should be involved in backup policy discussions. Bring everyone at the top level of the organization together to discuss the importance of the backup policy, and work with leaders to prioritize data importance across departments to understand what needs to be backed up and why.
• Choose a backup strategy and create a task list and timeline. At this point, leadership can work with the IT team to establish the more specific components of the backup plan. For example, determine what backup strategy you will use, what types of backups you'll need to create, how often backups will need to be performed, where data will be stored, who and/or what hardware and software systems will be used to perform backups, how to access backup data, what structure and formatting data should follow, and more.
• Identify task owners and set roles and responsibilities. Now, leadership can establish who will be accountable for what. For example, the IT team may be the boots on the ground, but department leaders may have individual responsibilities related to data collection or storage. Identifying task owners is important for leadership to spearhead, helping create accountability and ensure policy enforcement.
• Document everything and train employees. When leaders emphasize the importance of documenting every aspect of backup policy discussions, standards, and rules, it can help make sure nothing falls through the cracks during development and implementation. Good documentation can also help build more comprehensive training materials. Leaders should also make a point to take part in company-wide training programs. When lower-level employees see that even their bosses must take part in mandatory security training, they will better understand its importance and acknowledge that everyone has a role in protecting data.
• Emphasize security, privacy, compliance and transparency. It is leadership's job to communicate why a backup policy matters and to establish the core principles that guide its creation. For example, leaders can stress the importance of securing data through methods like encryption, keeping data private through anonymization, meeting regulatory requirements through compliance checklists, and demonstrating transparency by publishing customer data usage on the business's website for all to see. When leadership highlights these areas, employees will understand what they need to focus on and why, which can lead to a stronger and more effective backup policy.
• Test your backups and commit to continuous improvement. Once your backup policy has been created, it must be tested to ensure data is being properly backed up and remains accessible. The last thing you want is to go through all that effort only to find out it doesn't work in an emergency. Leadership can also establish owners of continuous improvement efforts to ensure data backups are managed, monitored and tested regularly. This can help identify optimizations, like automations that can improve data storage efficiency, and ways to expand the policy into a full disaster recovery plan.

Jacob Roundy is a freelance writer and editor specializing in a variety of technology topics, including data centers and sustainability.