There’s a lot to keep in mind when planning out a new update or application. Who is the intended target user? What need are you trying to fulfill? How will you accomplish this? It’s important to focus on these issues and thoroughly plan your attack. However, this focus shouldn’t come at the expense of essential data security measures like backup and recovery functionality.
Salesforce data recovery is an integral aspect of a proper data security plan.
But even though Salesforce data recovery is so important, many DevOps teams have a “deal with it when we need to” mentality. Failing to have a proper plan in place for reconstituting your Salesforce environment with a data backup can leave your customer and team members waiting while your team scrambles to get back online.
Why do you need a Salesforce data recovery plan? And what factors do you need to keep in mind when putting one together?
Here are 7 reasons you need a Salesforce data recovery plan:
1. Backups Are Meaningless Without the Ability to Restore
The ability to recover the data stored in your backup is just as important as the backup itself. Salesforce data recovery is the process of getting your system back online after a data loss event.
What’s the point in maintaining a current repository of backup data if there’s no way to move it back into your live environment?
Backups are only as useful as your ability to draw value from the data itself. And there is no value in data that is disconnected from the rest of your Salesforce environment.
2. Downtime Equates to Lost Money
2. Downtime Equates to Lost Money
Every minute that a business is incapable of operating due to a data loss event is another minute of losing money. This can add up to a very large amount. IBM found the average cost of a data breach was around $4.24 million for the affected company.
An actionable Salesforce data recovery plan will help a company minimize the amount of downtime associated with a data loss event.
This can be configured with something called a Recovery Time Objective (RTO). Basically, it relates to the maximum amount of time you deem acceptable between the data loss event and returning to operations.
3. Total Data Security Is Impossible
You can use complicated passwords, utilize two-factor authentication, educate your employees on avoiding phishing attempts, and any other data security best practices—your system will still be susceptible to a data loss event.
It’s impossible to completely guard your system against data breaches so you need to be prepared for worst-case scenarios.
A recent data backup and a Salesforce data recovery tool are essential aspects of a complete data security plan. Being caught without them after a data loss event would be catastrophic.
4. The Native Salesforce Data Recovery Tool Needs Help
Salesforce offered a data recovery tool, then they discontinued it, and then they started offering it again. This flip-flopping should ring some alarm bells in your mind—Salesforce simply doesn’t place proper importance on disaster recovery functionality.
Salesforce’s native data recovery tool is needlessly time consuming and complicated.
A third-party data recovery tool will better integrate with your data backup strategy and provide the coverage and functionality you need to minimize the negative effects of a data loss event.
5. Automation Is Essential
A proper data backup will likely include thousands of data sets, metadata contingencies, customizations, and so on. A data loss even will likely be followed by a frantic scrambling to restore functionalities. A manual restructuring of your Salesforce environment simply isn’t realistic.
An automated Salesforce data backup tool can automatically route data to its proper location to maintain a consistent interface for team members and customers.
Utilizing proper tools is a major aspect of an optimized Salesforce data recovery plan. You’ve taken the time to source a quality data backup tool—take this step to its conclusion by incorporating restore functionality as well.
6. Customizable Settings Ensure Proper Coverage
A Salesforce data recovery strategy is not one-size-fits-all. We’ve mentioned how RTO can be configured to get your system back online after a data loss event. However, this isn’t the only customizable setting that can be configured to help you get the most from your Salesforce data recovery tool.
A Recovery Point Objective (RPO) refers to the maximum period of data you are willing to lose after a data loss event.
A shorter RPO means you aren’t risking much data. However, this will require you to take more backup snapshots which can come with higher storage costs.
7. Off-Platform Solutions Keep You Running
Outages are costly for every business. However, sometimes these outages aren’t even your fault. Those working on Salesforce run the risk of losing connectivity when the platform itself experiences an outage. This leaves users simply waiting for service to be restored.
Working off the platform allows you to avoid an outage altogether when Salesforce goes down.
AutoRABIT offers a Salesforce DevSecOps platform that exists outside of Salesforce itself. Part of a full Salesforce data recovery plan is trying to avoid outages as much as possible, and this is an option that shouldn’t be overlooked.
FAQs
To an extent, yes. But you will need a tool to perform Salesforce data recovery in order to move your backed up data into your live environment.
It’s impossible to be completely secure. Data security threats are constantly evolving so you need to be prepared for worst-case scenarios.
That depends on the settings of your RTO (recovery time objective) or your RPO (recovery point objective). Generally, the more thorough you are in backing up your data, the longer it will take to recover your information.
