Modern technology has infiltrated countless industries around the world, and so many of today’s businesses rely on digital services and networking technology to carry out their duties and fulfill their functions.
In this technological age, just a few minutes of downtime or a single technical fault could lead to major profit losses and disastrous consequences, with a recent study showing that businesses with frequent outages and brownouts suffer serious financial issues compared to those with consistent uptime ratings.
This is why it’s so important to focus on keeping your data available and your networks up and running at all times, by any means necessary. Fortunately, from data synchronization services to failover automation, there are a lot of options out there to help out. Here are some key techniques you might like to try.
Data Synchronization
Leading data synchronization services are designed to maximize data availability and minimize the risk of errors or inconsistencies. These services help to ensure that when changes are made on one server or system, those same changes are applied to copies of the data on other servers and systems elsewhere.
This way, if one system goes down, there are still accurate, up-to-date, fully synchronized copies of that system’s data that can be accessed and utilized. Every business can benefit from data synchronization, from small start-ups to global enterprises, and it’s an essential part of security and compliance.
Calculate Your RTO
RTO stands for recovery time objective, and it’s essentially a measurement of how long your company can carry on operating if networks go down or access to your data is delayed or interrupted in some way. A lot of companies aren’t actually aware of their RTO or can only make vague guesses and approximations of what it might be.
This is a mistake. It’s vital to take the time to work out your RTO, as this will help you better prepare for the worst-case scenario if data does go down, as well as knowing the real scale and gravity of the consequences your company could face if data availability gets interrupted.
Automate Failover
Failover is another key term related to data availability you need to know. It basically encapsulates the systems and technologies that can be used as a fail-safe; if your main systems go down, the failover systems will kick in to bring your data back online. Failover processes and services can be a great way to maximize data availability, but automated failover can be even better.
When you automate failover, the systems burst to live instantaneously when needed, without any need for user interaction of any kind. This minimizes downtime enormously, saving all of the time and resources that would usually be spent on identifying an issue, figuring out the cause and details, and physically activating failover systems to compensate for it.
Make Availability Your Priority
One of the simplest ways you can make the most of the data available in your company is to treat it like a priority. Availability should never be an afterthought or oversight. It should be regarded as one of the most essential parts of your entire business strategy, especially when it comes to disaster recovery.
You need to know your RPO (recovery point objective), your RTO, what techniques and technologies are available to increase data availability, and so on, organizing regular reviews of your data availability policies and practices and always looking for ways to improve your efficiency and performance in this field.
Redundancy
When it comes to data, the term ‘redundancy’ is used to describe having several copies of the same data. It’s tied to data synchronization, and it can play a big part in reducing losses if systems go down or brownouts occur, as having more copies of the same data will allow your company to keep working as normal, even if access to one of those copies is temporarily lost or damaged.
Copies of data can be stored in totally different locations or just separate sections of the same database. Either way, having more copies is never a bad idea, but it’s important to calculate your redundancy strategy efficiently in order to avoid waste. There’s no need to waste resources on making too many copies, and you can task your networking experts with working out a sound strategy that works for you.
Conclusion
Access to data is an essential part of so many companies’ day to day operations, and losing access to that data for just a few minutes can have chaotic consequences, so make sure data availability is an integral part of your networking plan.