Today is World Backup Day!

World Backup Day is a day for people to learn about the increasing role of data in our lives and the importance of regular backups. It’s not only a day for backing up your personal data, but it’s also a day to talk about the enormous task of preserving our increasingly digital heritage and cultural works for future generations.

I’ve blogged a few times on this day in the past, but today I thought it was worth a quick thought about how backups and the protection of data has evolved rapidly just within the last three months. These are strange times we know, and there has been a tremendous shift in focus in regards to where data is being generated. Traditionally most of the data created by us (humans) is done so in the workplace. Though it is true that remote work or Working From Home isn’t anything new… when you have literally the majority of the worlds office based workforce displaced and scattered, it changes the dynamic!

This is what I am calling Data Displacement. Where the sum of the stored data is not being created on corporate east-west networks, but being generated in the majority by a scattered workforce locally in their remote locations. Because this data flows north-south it is more likely to not be in the control of those that traditionally manage it. That is to say there is a lot more risk that the data is not being protected.

This rapidly evolving norm has meant that IT Teams have had to scramble to not only control the flow of data for remote working conditions, but also change the way in which that data is protected. Data is life to organisations and having it displaced and potentially not protected up is a huge liability. So given today is World Backup Day, I thought it would be prudent to let all the backup administrators out there know that the game has fundamentally shifted due to current world circumstances. Some have adapted… but I would guess that most have not.

So when thinking about where and how your workforce is creating critical data right at this second… have a think about how the displacement of that data impacts your own data protection/backup strategy. You may need to adapt!