The Business of Backing up Network Configuration

Both small and large businesses should always be backing up their network configuration.

A business’s network is what stores employee information, accounting and payroll data, customer service information and possibly keeps the entire business running if it’s an internet-based business.

If your company’s network works great all the time, you won’t care if you didn’t back up your network.

But, in the event that something does go wrong (and it eventually will), you will wish more than ever that you had taken the necessary steps to get your network backed up.

Time and Money

Not backing up your business’s network configuration costs you both time and money. You may be out of commission for days, perhaps longer, while the IT department tries to fix the problem.

In addition to this costing you time and money, you also may lose valuable information that cannot be recovered.

If your business is of importance to you, always back your information up. This is especially true for certain industries.

The article “4 Businesses that shouldn’t go a day without network configuration backup” discusses four businesses that benefit from network configuration backups that are done frequently and on a regular basis.

These businesses include:

• The medical industry – Any business working in the medical field should always backup their network configuration due to strict laws of patient identification. Patient information is confidential and if you lose it, you could be at risk of a lawsuit. It’s just not worth the risk to not have your information backed up. Backing up will also come in handy for audits and make recovery quicker if the network were to malfunction, according to the article.
• The financial service industry – Similar to the medical industry, the financial sector is extremely private and needs to provide safe security for customers. The article states that network configuration backup procedures are critical to recovering networks after a disaster or downtime, which can cause major losses for larger corporations that handle millions (or billions) of dollars.
• The e-commerce industry – E-commerce companies include Amazon, Walmart and any other retailer that also operates online. If the network is down, orders cannot come in. One minute of downtime would cost Amazon more than $66,000. This is just not worth it for any retailer and all online businesses could prevent this from happening by backing up their network configuration.
• The IT service industry – If you’re in the business of information technology, it should be in your blood to back up your network. Similar to the e-commerce industry, if your network were to fail or experience downtime, you cannot provide your services to other industries or individuals. Plus, it probably would not look too good to your customers if your own network isn’t working.

Overall, backing up your networking configuration is essential to the performance of your company. Even if you’ve never experienced any problems thus far, that doesn’t mean you won’t.

It’s always best to be prepared for the worst and assume the best, especially when it comes to your business.

About the Author: Sarah Brooks is a freelance writer living in Charlotte, NC. She writes on a variety of topics including small businesses, social media and personal finance.