# Do you have backups? — The Channel Partner podcast — Panoptic IT Solutions

> Panoptic MD David Griffith on the three-question backup test most business owners can't pass, and how business continuity keeps you trading while your files come back.

*Source: https://panoptic.ie/podcast/do-you-have-backups*

# "If you don't know if you have backups, the answer is probably no."

David Griffith, Panoptic MD, asks business owners three questions about their backups. Most can't answer.

The Channel Partner · Episode 02 · Clip · 4 min

01

### The question

The three-question test most owners can't pass.

[Jump to](#chapter-01)

02

### When the server dies

Backups get files back. Business continuity keeps you trading.

[Jump to](#chapter-02)

## Three questions every business owner should be able to answer

David starts business owners on a three-question test. He doesn't expect them to understand the backups, only to know they exist. Most can't tell you what gets backed up, where it goes, or how often.

> "What's backed up, where's it backed up to, and how often? That's all they need to know."

David Griffith · Panoptic MD

01

### What's backed up?

Accounts data, customer records, anything you couldn't recreate from email.

02

### Where is it backed up to?

A second disk under the same desk doesn't count. You want off-site, encrypted, somewhere a flood can't reach.

03

### How often?

Daily for most. Continuous for live systems like booking software or POS.

David treats "I don't know" as a no. If you've never asked the three questions yourself, the only person who knows is your provider. Providers fail. A backup can fail for months without anyone noticing, until you need a restore and there's nothing to restore from.

## How business continuity keeps you trading while your files come back

David separates the two later in the podcast. Backups get your files back. Business continuity keeps you trading while the files come back. If you run a hotel, the server takes bookings, runs check-in, runs the till. If you run a clinic, it holds patient records and prints prescriptions.

> "You can't have too many backups. But business continuity is an entirely different thing."

David Griffith · Panoptic MD

01T · 0 min

### Production server fails

Disk dies, motherboard fries, ransomware locks the volume. Whatever the cause.

02T · +30 to 60 min

### Continuity device takes over

We copy the server to the device on the shelf every few minutes. The local copy boots inside the hour, so staff carry on and the outage lasts minutes.

03T · +6 wk

### New server arrives

The hardware lands. We build it alongside the live device and cut over out-of-hours. The business never stopped.

> "If a server fails in any way, we switch it over to our business-continuity device. The stress is all put on us."

David Griffith · Panoptic MD

Production servers run for five to ten years. By then the drives are out of production or sitting on six-week back-order. The broken server can sit on a repair desk that whole time. You keep trading off the device, with the cloud backup behind it.

## Don't know if you have backups?

Twenty minutes on a call and we'll answer the three questions for you. No follow-up unless you want one.

[Talk to us ](https://panoptic.ie/contact)[Book a discovery call](https://panoptic.ie/contact)