Prevention is better than cure. This also applies to your IT environment. Just like a timely check-up at the garage helps avoid car breakdowns, a health check of your IT infrastructure can prevent major problems in the future. WESTPOLE provides a multi-day audit in which the various pain points of the organization are identified and the necessary steps determined in order to guarantee maximum data protection in the most efficient way. Our health check also shows how important efficient backup management is and how a sufficient backup strategy can prevent an organization from losing a large part of its business data in the event of a breakdown, network failure or cyber attack.
To prevent such disastrous scenarios, a proactive health check is always recommended. WESTPOLE’s health check is a multi-day audit that focuses on the security and risk and disaster management of both software and hardware by examining the organization’s backup strategy in particular. We don’t focus on which products are used, but on the policy and strategy behind the backups. This strategy is indeed crucial to reduce the risks of data loss, which vary from easily solvable inconsistencies to more structural problems in the data storage. Yet for many SMEs, but also for large companies, this is where things often go wrong.
Leaks and risk spreading
But sometimes the backup software itself is the target of a cyberattack. It is therefore important to check to what extent this software is resistant to these attacks. WESTPOLE’s health check firstly runs through all possible scenarios to check whether the IT environment is well protected or not, and detects any leaks or blind spots. Secondly, WESTPOLE looks at the time intervals between backups and how much data can be lost without getting into trouble. Thirdly, WESTPOLE examines whether there is a proper risk distribution, knowing that different business departments often perform backups on the same underlying hardware.
Centralizing the backup system
It is common that different departments of a company do not communicate transparently about backups and data protection. Not only does this jeopardize business efficiency, an important central overview of the various silos is also missing. A comprehensive audit at this point is the start of centralizing data management, which ensures security and optimizes the efficiency of backups. WESTPOLE’s overview of the backup system makes it possible to check whether the company is in compliance with data and data protection legislation, for example GDPR. This limits the risks of ransomware attacks, among others, and reduces the potential impact of data loss as well. Moreover, a solid backup system is one of the foundations of a solid disaster recovery plan.
Focus on the core business
A health check from WESTPOLE results in an independent and critical report that assesses the thought process in the organization and the status of the IT network and backup system. In large companies, this is usually expected of the in-house IT department, but they do not always have the right resources, expertise or staff to do this. As your specialized IT-partner, WESTPOLE has the knowledge and experience to improve your IT environment. WESTPOLE’s one-off analysis of your backup strategy also creates transparency in the business organization and thus ensures improved performance. A clear overview of the business risks enables companies to fully focus on their own core business, without spending valuable time and money on restoring data loss.
Prevention is still better than cure and the value of a solid backup strategy can never be overestimated. With the health check and assistance afterwards, WESTPOLE helps you to have a peaceful mind: your company data is safe at all times, no matter what.
By Jens Van Hoof, Technical Sales Engineer at WESTPOLE