As an IT Pro, the mentality that seemingly anything and everything should be prioritized over responsibly backing up data is enough to have you pulling your hair out. Because if the systems crash and vital data goes missing – guess who’s going to be going without sleep for days trying to get everything up and running again?
We feel your pain fellow IT pros. So we’ve put together a few things that would drive us crazy if our workplace were to prioritize them over backing up data in the budget. Don’t get us wrong, these things are all great to have – but not at the expense of reliable data protection!
Team building exercises
So your company can’t afford to implement an effective disaster recovery strategy. Wait, what? But there was money-a-plenty for the entire company to travel to a retreat, you say? You learned how to hold hands and fall backwards into each others arms, you say? We just got a shudder.
Team building is important, of course – even the corporate retreat hand-waving-arguably-nonsense type. But the most cohesive team of accountants, lawyers, marketers and management types in the world will still need to polish up their resumes if the IT systems crash and mission-critical data goes bye-bye. Turns out allocating adequate resources to backing up data properly is what stops that from happening.
But they’d have known that if they’d listened to that voice of reason wafting faintly out of the server room.
Competitive Christmas parties
No matter where you work, everyone loves a good Christmas party! And since Your Competitor Inc. from across town hosted theirs in low-earth orbit with lobster-caviar-truffle appetizers presented on diamond-encrusted dinner plates, your workplace couldn’t possibly do anything less grandiose, right? What would the clients think, after all?
Well, we’re happy to hear that your company has ample room in the budget both for all that jazz AND a watertight approach to backing up data. You guys must be doing well. Oh…you don’t ha…no backup strategy whatsoev…Ohhhh.
In that case, we’re just thankful we didn’t have to see the look on your SysAdmin’s face when the CFO handed her a glass of Dom Perignon and broke the bad news about that replacement backup server she’s been asking for all year.
Then again, we’d hate to see the CFO’s face even more after the accounts database crashes and 10 years of financial records are permanently lost.
Unnecessary hardware
As IT Pros, this one is even difficult for us to stomach. New tech is always exciting and oh-so-difficult to say no to. Sure, it’s all too easy to scoff at the iPads that were bought for everyone in marketing as an unnecessary expense, but what about that second, top-of-the-line Exchange Server, when you don’t even have the means to properly back up the first…?
Sometimes, we just have to tighten our belts and point out to management that shiny new things may be shiny and new, but that doesn’t mean they don’t need to be backed up.
Prioritizing data protection is just about the most important thing that any business of any size can do. If a company can afford to back up its data, nail its RTOs and RPOs and still splash out on all the finer things the business-world has to offer, more power to it! That company is doing things right.
It’s the one that splashes out without first backing up that concerns us. Because sooner or later, it could all come crashing down.
Here’s to the poor IT Pro who’ll be wading through the digital rubble when that happens. If only they’d listened.
Have you worked somewhere that under-appreciated backups?
Tell your story in the comments, tweet @BackupAssist or post to Facebook.
Share this article, and help IT Pros everywhere get the budgets they need.
