At the dawn of the 21st century, the information age is taking shape gradually. Between data corruption, intentional or unintentional deletion, equipment containing data being misplaced, lost or stolen, ransomware attacks and retention policies, making sure our data is always available and recoverable has become not only important but imperative.
No matter the industry you find yourself in, you generate large amounts of data every day, from your mobile devices, to your computers, from your removable drives to your cloud stored information. How much of that data are you willing to lose to ransomware or deletion? Probably none or maybe a little bit. This is the reason your organization needs to have a solid backup strategy that is in line with your requirements and policies.
A backup is a preserved point in time copy of your data stored in an alternative location. Before deciding to invest in any backup equipment or software you need to answer the following question.
The response should contain things like file servers, operating systems, applications, software configurations etc. This will allow you to filter out things that are not important for the organization such as staff personal information that may be saved on their devices.
You will need to think through what you want to do when it is actually time to restore. You may prefer to restore an entire system or server to a previous state or you would rather redeploy the service and just restore the data and configuration settings. This question is important because it influences the size of the data and the solution you may go for.
The term typically used to summarize this question is RPO (Recovery Point Objective). You need to understand that you will definitely lose some data when a disaster occurs. The point here is to minimize the impact to the minimum possible. If you take a backup every 24h it means you can go back in time 23 hours 59 minutes. You need to keep in mind that the frequency at which you take backup may affect live or production systems performance and create bottlenecks.
You will also need to know the total amount of data in Terabyte that you will be backing up. The quantity of data will allow you to have a realistic view of how long it will take to restore that data; this is called RTO (Recovery Time Objective).
Last but not least, you need to define a realistic retention period i.e. how long the backup data needs to be kept. Here is something to think of: if your backup takes 1TB per month and you keep it for 5 years, it will require about 60TB to be retained. Did you realize this simple calculation does not factor in unexpected growth?
Backing up your data does not guarantee you will be able to recover it. We recommend using the 3-2-1 rule when it comes to taking backup. The rule specifies you need to keep three copies of your data on two different types of media with one of them offsite. Applying this rule increases your chances to perform a successful restore when it is needed.
Now that you know what you are backing up and for how long you need to keep it, it is time to look at how you will be backing it up. Some of the best software we recommend are Veritas and Veeam backup software coupled with hardware dedupe appliances such as Dell EMC Data Domain or HPE StoreOnce. You may also want to look at cloud storage, Tape Drives or Tape Libraries for your long-term/offsite retention. Tape provides you with the best $/TB ratio and it is air-gapped, so hackers cannot access them; whereas cloud provides you with permanent availability.
When your data is backed up, you will have to test it at specific intervals to verify recoverability. Do not wait till it is time to perform a recovery to realize that the backup is invalid.
Creating a simple, comprehensive and global backup strategy can be a hurdle. Keep it as simple as possible and try as much as possible to use a single solution for all your workloads. Keep only critical data and have a plan to regenerate lost data in the case of a disaster. Be mindful of ransomware; try as much as possible to keep some your backed-up data offline.
We provide free backup strategy discussions and budgeting. Our pre-sales engineers are always ready to help you prepare your backup strategy and help you meet your business needs. To discuss this or other data availability needs, call us on +233.54.431.5710 or write to sales@apotica.net.
Apotica, headquartered in Accra, Ghana brings together the best information and communications technologies to help clients grow, compete and serve their customers better.
Matilda, a Chartered Accountant, joined Apotica in May 2023. With over 12 years of experience in banking, insurance, pensions, accounting and finance, she is responsible for the company’s financial control, strategic planning, management reporting, and overall financial performance.
She holds a BSc degree in Business Administration (Accounting) from the University of Ghana Business School and an MSc in Accounting and Finance from the same institution. Matilda is also a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Ghana.
Matilda has attended the Executive Education course in Strategic Management at the Maastricht School of Management in the Netherlands and participated in other leadership seminars around the world.
Peniel Korley is Head of Marketing for Apotica, designing and implementing comprehensive marketing strategies to create awareness of the company’s business activities.
Peniel joined Apotica in April 2019 and has helped build our market presence through an adept combination of traditional marketing and digital marketing techniques, executing and monitoring corporate promotion campaigns, and conducting market research to help us stay abreast of trends.
He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Ghana and a Master of Business Administration degree in Marketing from the University of Ghana Business School. He’s a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, UK.
As Head of Projects, Sylvester Kyeremeh is responsible for coordinating people and processes to ensure that our client projects are delivered on time and produce the desired results. He leads this function within the confines of our quality management and information security management systems.
Sylvester joined Apotica in 2017 as a Systems Engineer, before moving on to join our project management practice a year later. His calm and collected approach to interpersonal engagements, impressive sense of planning, and excellent communication skills continue to receive the plaudits of our customers.
Sylvester received his B.S. degree in Computer Engineering from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology. He’s a Certified Information Systems Auditor, a Cisco-certified professional, an ISO 27001 Lead Implementer, and a member of the Project Management Institute with PMP and Scrum Master qualifications.
At 25, Millicent is currently the youngest head of department at Apotica, taking up this role in August 2020. She’s responsible for managing all aspects of risk to the organization, employees, clients, assets, reputation, and interests of stakeholders. Millicent also works with the leadership of the organization to embed and maintain a risk-aware culture in the organization.
Before joining Apotica, she worked as a broadcast journalist at Radio Universe – a popular media house in Accra. Millicent holds a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and has attended the Executive Education course in Personal Leadership at the Maastricht School of Management, Netherlands.
She’s a Certified Governance, Risk, and Compliance Professional (GRCP) and a qualified ISO 9001 Lead Implementer.
Elom Kutsienyo is the Chief Technology Officer at Apotica. A technology enthusiast and Apple nerd, he is responsible for the development and maintenance of our excellent technical services capabilities and enabling our engineering teams to become adept at industry best practices relating to enterprise solutions design, deployments, and support.
Since taking up the CTO role in August 2019, he has strategically grown our product offerings through strong channel partnerships with leading ICT vendors. Elom’s extensive experience in product sales, project management, service delivery, and field engineering also helps as he oversees company webinars, product demos, proof-of-value activities, and technical proposals for clients.
He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Telecom Engineering from Ghana Technology University College and has attained several professional qualifications including the coveted Cisco CCIE certification as well as certifications from Microsoft, VMware, NetApp, HPE, and Nutanix.
Clifford leads the Customer Experience practice at Apotica which encompasses our consulting, technology, support, and learning services.
Prior to his position at Apotica, Clifford was the senior manager of IT Infrastructure at Stanbic, a leading commercial bank in Ghana. He has also previously held roles in field engineering, service delivery, and customer support at organizations including Huawei, IBM, Tech Mahindra, and Zenith Bank.
Clifford is PMP-certified and holds a Bachelor’s in Information Technology, as well as several industry certifications from Microsoft, VMware, and Amazon.
Dzigbodi Amekoudi oversees company business in Benin and the countries in French West Africa. As Country Manager, his primary responsibility is business development, which involves helping to define and introduce the right go-to-market strategies and making sure our business operates profitably in the territory. He’s also responsible for establishing operating budgets and managing company employees in his region.
During his tenure, Dzigbodi has led Apotica’s expansion into other countries including Burkina Faso, Guinea Conakry, Mali, and Niger. Additionally, he works with our technical services leads to ensure successful post-sales delivery of customer projects.
Dzigbodi started his career in engineering and project management, before joining Apotica as a key accounts manager in January 2020.
He earned a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Telecommunications from Ghana Technology University College and a Master of Science degree in International Management from Franklin University Switzerland. He’s a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, UK.
Emmanuel Nketia is responsible for managing all sales functions at Apotica and oversees other departments, including marketing, operations, and client renewals. An excellent salesman and negotiator, he brings with him 20 years of experience in logistics, accounting, business development, and customer relationship management.
He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology. He’s also a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, UK, and an MBA Marketing candidate at the University of Ghana Business School.
Emmanuel has attended the Executive Education course in Strategic Management from the Maastricht School of Management in the Netherlands and participated in other leadership seminars in the USA.
At Apotica, we are on a mission to help clients grow and serve their customers better. As CEO, Felix Nkansah works closely with our Sales, Services, and Operations leadership to identify customer and industry transitions and determine our strategies to address them.
Felix joined Apotica in January 2017 and brings more than 18 years of experience across executive leadership, systems engineering, customer support, and sales functions with some regional conglomerates and information technology companies.
He has a background in computer science and holds expert-level professional certifications in networking, security, and systems design.