Are Your Backups Actually Working?

7 Questions Every Business Should Ask Before It’s Too Late

Most businesses have backups. Far fewer have backups that actually work.
We’ve seen it more times than we’d like to admit. A server crashes. A ransomware attack locks every file. A staff member accidentally deletes a month of data. The business calls us in a panic, and then discovers that their backup hasn’t run properly in weeks. Or months. Or ever.

Here are the 7 questions you need to ask — right now, before something goes wrong.

Do I actually have a backup running? Backup software can be installed and then quietly stop working. Confirm your last successful backup ran within the last 24 hours.
How often are my backups running? At minimum, daily for documents and emails. Every few hours for databases. The real question: how much data can you afford to lose?
Have my backups ever been tested? Running a backup and being able to restore from one are two different things. Test with an actual file restore at least monthly.
What am I actually backing up? Don’t forget Microsoft 365 data (SharePoint, OneDrive, Teams), your accounting software, CRM, and server configurations — not just file folders.
Where are my backups stored? Follow the 3-2-1 rule: 3 copies, 2 storage types, 1 offsite or in the cloud. If your building burned down tonight, could you recover?
How long would recovery take? Restoring a server can take hours or days. Do you have a documented recovery plan, or would you be figuring it out under pressure?
Who is actually responsible for monitoring backups? This is the question nobody asks until something goes wrong. Someone needs to own it — and you should be receiving regular status reports.

Want the Full Picture? Here’s the Detail.

1. Do I Actually Have a Backup Running?

This sounds like a silly question, but you’d be surprised. Backup software can be installed, configured, and then quietly stop working — and nobody notices until it’s needed.

Common reasons backups stop running silently include:
• The backup drive filled up and new data stopped saving
• A software update broke the backup agent
• A password or licence expired
• The schedule was set up incorrectly from the start

What to do: Log into your backup software (or ask your IT provider) and confirm that the last successful backup ran within the last 24 hours. If you can’t find that information easily, that’s already a red flag.

2. How Often Are My Backups Actually Running?

There’s no one-size-fits-all answer here — it depends on how fast your business generates data. But as a general guide:

• Office documents, emails, and financial data: daily backups, minimum
• Databases or high-transaction systems: every few hours
• Critical servers: real-time or near-real-time replication

The key question isn’t just “how often” — it’s “how much data can we afford to lose?” That window is called your Recovery Point Objective (RPO). If your backup runs once a day and something goes wrong at 4pm, you could lose a full day’s work.

3. How Often Should Backups Be Tested?

This is the one most businesses skip. And it’s arguably the most important.
Running a backup is one thing. Being able to actually restore from it is another. Backup files can become corrupted. Restore processes can fail. Files can be missing. Our recommendation: Test your backups at minimum once a month. This means actually restoring a sample of files — not just checking that the backup “completed successfully” in the log.
A full disaster recovery test (where you simulate restoring an entire server or system) should happen at least once or twice a year.

4. What Should I Actually Be Backing Up?

A surprising number of businesses back up the wrong things — or miss critical data entirely.
Here’s a checklist of what should be covered:

• Business documents and files (on-site server or shared drive)
• Emails and Microsoft 365 data (Exchange Online, SharePoint, OneDrive, Teams)
• Financial data and accounting software databases
• Customer records, CRM data, and project files
• Server operating system and configuration (for fast recovery)
• Any cloud systems that store critical business data

5. Where Are My Backups Being Stored?

The classic advice still holds: follow the 3-2-1 rule.

• 3 copies of your data
• 2 different storage types (e.g. local hard drive + cloud)
• 1 copy stored offsite or in the cloud

If your only backup is a hard drive sitting next to your server — and there’s a fire, flood, or theft — you lose everything. The backup needs to be in a separate physical location, or in the cloud.

6. How Long Would It Take Us to Recover?

This is your Recovery Time Objective (RTO) — and most businesses have never thought about it.
Even if your backup is perfect, recovery takes time. Restoring a server from scratch can take hours or days depending on your setup. During that time, your business might be unable to operate.

Questions to ask:

• How long can the business function without access to its data?
• Do we have a documented recovery plan, or would we be figuring it out under pressure?
• Has anyone actually run through that recovery plan?

Modern cloud backup solutions can dramatically reduce recovery time — sometimes getting you back up and running in minutes rather than days. It’s worth knowing what your current setup offers.

7. Who Is Responsible for Monitoring Our Backups?

This is the question nobody asks — until something goes wrong.
Backups don’t monitor themselves. Someone needs to be checking that they’re running, that they’re completing without errors, and that the backup storage isn’t full. In many small businesses, this responsibility falls into a gap — IT assumes the business owner is checking, and the business owner assumes IT is handling it.
What good looks like: Your IT provider should be sending you a regular backup status report, or at minimum alerting you when something fails. If you’re not receiving that, ask for it.

A Quick Backup Health Check
Not sure where to start? Here’s a quick self-assessment:

• Can you confirm a backup ran successfully in the last 24 hours?
• Do you know exactly what data is being backed up?
• Has your backup ever been tested with an actual restore?
• Is at least one copy of your backup stored offsite or in the cloud?
• Does someone own the responsibility of monitoring backups?
If you answered “no” or “I’m not sure” to any of those, it’s time for a conversation.

We’re Happy to Help.

Sometimes it just helps to have someone who knows what they’re looking at. If you’d like us to review your backup setup and give you an honest assessment, get in touch — we work with businesses of all sizes.

Reach us at info@itcorp.co.za or call 031 266 0000.

Because the best time to check your backups is before you need them.