The Executive’s Guide to Data Migration and Business Continuity

Digital systems have become a crucial part of our professional and personal lives, but when these systems are interrupted, it can leave companies unable to function. It’s important that executives treat continuity as a core part of running the business, not an afterthought for the IT team.

Downtime is increasingly expensive. For even a smaller sized business, IT system downtime could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars for a single hour of downtime. For business leaders, it’s important to have a clear business continuity strategy, enabling the company to get back online as soon as possible in the event of disruption to digital services. Every executive should have a clear plan for keeping systems running, even if data is under threat. Research into the financial impact of downtime provides further insight into how quickly the costs of an outage can add up.

Data Migration Is a Continuity Event

Data is most exposed when it’s transferring from one system to another, for example when you’re migrating company data from one cloud system to another. While the data is in transit, it could be:

• Corrupted
• Lost
• Intercepted and accessed by unauthorised third parties

A botched systems merge could easily set back company operations for weeks. It could also cause serious problems with your data compliance regulations. Before making a move, the executive level needs to map out clearly the data involved in the move, highlighting exactly the data that’s critical to operations, or that might expose the company to compliance difficulties.

The safe approach to data migration involves creating a copy of critical data instead of transferring it. That way, the company can safely validate the migrated data in the new location, ensuring all important information is present and accounted for.

Once the data is verified, you can complete the migration process, removing the data from the initial location. Tools built for seamless data migration with True Image let a team clone a full system and verify it before cutover, so a failed move becomes a retry rather than an outage. The wider effort deserves the same rigor, so success comes down to planning a cloud migration around the data that matters most and the compliance rules that govern it.

Avoid Ransomware

The European Union Agency for Cybersecurity ranks ransomware among the top threats to business continuity. The key feature of ransomware is that once it takes hold on company systems, it prevents any kind of data migration attempt. These forms of malware apply unbreakable encryption to your files, rendering them inaccessible.

You can’t read your files, and you can’t migrate them either. The most effective solution is to couple robust data backup systems with employee cybersecurity training.

Build Recovery Around Clear Targets

Once data is settled, continuity depends on how quickly you can restore it. A sound recovery plan comes down to a few essentials:

• Set recovery time and recovery point objectives.
• Make a tested, off-site 3-2-1 backup your baseline.
• Keep at least one copy immutable so ransomware cannot reach it.
• Disaster recovery means you aim for uninterrupted access to data, not just stored copies.

Make Continuity a Leadership Priority

Business continuity is a core leadership responsibility, so treat it as one. Protect data during migration by copying and verifying before you fully make the switch. Defend against ransomware with reliable backups paired with staff training. Set clear recovery objectives and keep at least one immutable off-site copy.

If you’re interested in learning more about other topics relating to business leadership, see our other articles.

Image by Michael Schwarzenberger from Pixabay