WatchPoint Solutions Blog

Back in the 1960s, long before the Internet as we know it was around, a computer scientist named J.C.R. Licklider imagined an “Intergalactic Computer Network.” What sounded like science fiction then is the reality we work in today, but we call it by a much simpler name: the cloud.

The term is everywhere, but it's vague. It sounds abstract, maybe even a little insecure, as if your data is just floating around in the ether. This article will cut through the jargon. Today, we want to explain what the cloud really is and why it's one of the most powerful tools for a modern business.

Data loss is coming for you, and if you’re not careful, it could have significant impacts on your business. Like other IT issues that your business can experience, it helps to know what the issue is, how it happens, and how to solve it. Today, we want to share three common data loss scenarios and how you can take action now to prevent them from becoming serious problems for your organization.

It takes a lot of hard work to build a company from scratch. You’ve likely made a lot of relationships with customers and vendors as well, building all kinds of new products and solutions in the process. So, what would you do if all of that disappeared in an instant?

Small businesses put a lot of effort into building their companies. Over the years, you’ve cultivated relationships with customers and vendors, built innovative new products and solutions, and collected vast amounts of data.

What would you do if it all of a sudden vanished—poof—into thin air?

Data loss can be from a cyberattack, hardware failure, or just plain bad luck. Either way, it is a real threat to your business. You can hedge against it by having solid data backup strategies in place. Today is World Backup Day, so we thought we’d go through some ways to build a data redundancy platform that will keep you from being left scrambling should disaster strike.

If your business uses the cloud, you need that cloud to be reliable. Otherwise, you’re just wasting resources. Let’s examine how you can make your cloud solution as reliable as possible so you’re not leaving any money on the table.

Crises happen. Whether it’s a natural disaster, a cyberattack, or just plain human error, unexpected problems can throw your business off track. The best way to handle them? Be prepared. Let’s go over what a solid crisis plan looks like and how you can protect your business when things go sideways.

If your business is still using tape backup, we’ve got news for you: you’re behind the times by a decade or two. Still, there might be some merits to using it, despite the overwhelming evidence that digital backup solutions like Backup and Disaster Recovery (BDR) are all-around better. Here’s why you might still use tape backup in today’s modern business world.

There’s no escaping the inherent risk that comes from anything worth doing, and that includes business. That said, you can take steps to minimize the bad and make more room for the good. One such way you can do this is with an effective disaster recovery strategy.

Today, we’re looking at what goes into building a proper disaster recovery strategy and why your business needs to consider it a priority.

Have you ever accidentally deleted a file or had your computer crash? It can be pretty frustrating, right? Now, imagine if a big disaster (like a hurricane, fire, or data breach) happened and wiped out all your important data. That's where disaster recovery comes in.

Data backup, while crucial to an organization’s continuity and sustainability, hasn’t had too many innovations over the past few years. Ever since businesses have started to do away with the resource intensive backups that required manual effort or antiquated methods (we’re looking at you, tape), backups and backup strategies have standardized a bit. In today’s blog, we’ll take you through that process and how emerging technologies are improving backup technology.

Businesses rely heavily on technology and data to keep running smoothly. But what happens when disaster strikes? Whether it’s a natural disaster like a hurricane or an unexpected event like a cyberattack, businesses need a plan to keep going. This is where disaster recovery comes in. Let’s break down what disaster recovery is and why it’s vital for business continuity.

A lot is made of the rising costs that everyone is seeing over the past several years. This inflation extends itself for IT-related downtime as well. Now that most businesses are using some form of technology to run their business, losing access to those systems for any length of time can be a major problem. Today, we’ll take a look at the cost of downtime, what causes it, and how to ensure that you do everything you can to keep it from negatively affecting your business.

It’s easy to take something you use every single day for granted. That’s something that a lot of car dealerships are feeling right now, as one popular automotive dealership software platform has been down for several days due to a cyberattack.

You don’t realize just how critical your line of business app is until it’s suddenly not available and you can’t do the work you used to do. Here’s the story.

Data loss has a severely damaging impact on the businesses that suffer from it, so why not help protect your business the same way you would with other damages? Cyber insurance helps do just that, and is therefore a super helpful investment for today’s businesses to embrace.

That said, just like other forms of insurance, there are certain requirements that must be met for a business to qualify. Let’s touch on some common requirements insurance providers have.

While nobody likes to consider that a disaster of any scale could impact their business’ operations, it is important to have made these considerations and have planned accordingly. Let’s go over some elements of this, and address a few tips that you can adopt to boost your preparedness.

For those of you that read our blog often, you know we often mention how backing up your business information systems is a crucial part of protecting your organization's IT infrastructure. One of the best rules of thumb when considering your data backup is what is called the 3-2-1 rule. Let’s go through what the 3-2-1 rule is and why it works to protect your business’ digital assets. 

It is officially one week until World Backup Day—the global occasion intended to raise awareness about the importance of backups and the proper maintenance and management of them. While we are in full support of this initiative, we also want to make something clear: data backup shouldn’t be an annual consideration, it needs to be a priority each and every day.

If you are a frequent reader of this blog, you know that we rev the throttle on data backup a lot. This is because it can quite literally save your business and for something that valuable, it doesn’t come with a lot of cost. Unfortunately, a lot of businesses don’t always find the expense worth it. In the minds of many decision-makers, what are the chances that your business is hit with a situation that would necessitate a full system restore? 

We have all heard about disaster scenarios in which offices are struck by terrifying threats that put the organization on life support. However, the most devastating disasters don’t necessarily have to destroy your business’ office to really do measurable harm to your organization. All they have to do is disrupt your operations so profoundly that it can be a real challenge to recover.