44 zettabytes, or 44,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 bytes. The number looks shocking, doesn't it? Well, that's how much data, according to the SeedsScientific's most recent study, humanity produces on a daily basis. More importantly, with the technologies and storage capacities being continuously improved, the already impressive amount of digital  information continues to grow by leaps and bounds.

For greater clarity, here are some curious extracts of recent researches:

• The overall amount of all data in the world was totalling 44 zettabytes at the beginning of 2020.

• By 2025, the amount of data generated on a daily basis is expected to reach 463 exabytes globally.

• Google, Microsoft, Facebook and Amazon are custodians of at least 1,200 petabytes of people's information these days.

• Finally, the total number of IoT devices will be 75 billion by 2025.

Now, since all of the above once again demonstrates that more and more aspects of our daily lives become dependent on digital information (both personal and business-related), it is therefore crucial to provide the important data (whether it's personal or business-related) with the highest level of protection possible. In this article, we're reviewing 3 the most important things that a reliable, fail-safe business continuity plan must be based on.

The Basic Principles

When looking for reliable options to secure your vital files, you may find that every first source's recommendation begins with developing a backup strategy. And that certainly makes sense: with the data recording tools for automation and planning, as well as various storage media options offered today, regular backup remains the most reliable solution for data loss prevention

However, no backup tool can cover all potential causes of data loss.  menaces, such as insider threats - situations wherein the critical data gets sabotaged, that is corrupted intentionally or accidentally, by an employee, contractor, or collaborator (or anyone with access to company's files or system) instead of being compromised by outside malefactors or hackers. To this end, below we've gathered several principles about proper data processing, complying with which may help you to ensure the highest level of data protection possible.

#1. Data Management

First and foremost, it's important to assess what information must be stored and for how long. When deploying a data protection plan, the two key aspects to consider are information lifecycle management and data lifecycle management.

Basically, information lifecycle management represents a comprehensive approach that must include valuation, organization and protection of information assets from user or system errors, virus and malware attacks, sudden power outages and so forth. In turn, data lifecycle management means automating the transfer of critical data both online and offline, which ensures regular and timely storage of information.

#2. Data Availability

Another key principle of data protection lies in making the information available under all circumstances. Data availability implies that, even in case the information is damaged or lost, users still can access it to operate business. Why is it important? Because the downtime (for instance, required to rebuild the missing chunk of a clientbase) may lead to enormous material losses, it is vital to ensure the continuity of workflow with a dependable, fail-proof business continuity/disaster recovery (BC/DR) plan.

#3. Data Portability

The next aspect relates to data portability - the possibility of moving vital information (files, records, archives, etc) between different programs, applications, computing environments or cloud services, and there are several approaches as to putting it into practice. 

Public clouds or clouds operated by backup vendors are more preferred among organizations these days. Able to replace tape libraries and on-site storages, cloud-based backup serve as additional safeguarded copies of information, and allows customers to transfer data and various applications among cloud service providers (CSP). Finally, there's a wide range of products available today that provide backup arrangement, archiving and indexation functions at once.

This approach is considered the best as it both saves a company's time and significantly reduces the amount of data in long-term storage.

#4. Data Recovery Services

Finally, it doesn't necessarily mean you've lost your data assets completely in case something happens to your on-site repository or storage media. Only remember that, since poor repairs can only make it worse, it is crucial to find a trustworthy recovery lab to restore the information... which may be quite challenging, especially if you haven't encountered such situations before.

Given that, the wisest thing to do would be to delegate their salvation to a competent data recovery company, such as Salvagedata. Salvagedata is a dedicated team of experienced technicians that have been providing high quality data restoration services for more than a decade now. Using only top-of-the-line equipment and proprietary software, the company is also known for dealing with the most complicated data loss cases - and even those other recovery labs have claimed to be unrestorable. All in all, it doesn't matter whether your data was corrupted by a system error, physical damage, or hardware failure - just contact the Salvagedata team asap, and let the professionals do the rest!