Most managers and executives don’t spend too much time thinking about backup and recovery services. They trust that when they log into their computer, their data will be there just like it was when they left it the night before. However, this can be a dangerous way to approach business continuity with all of the different threats and issues that an organization faces these days. Because continuity is so important to the lifeblood of your business, your boss should know these four things about backup services so that he or she can make the right decision about whether to handle things in house or turn to a managed backup services provider.

1. Data loss is costly

Nearly half of all businesses have fallen victim to a ransomware attack, and in the first quarter of 2016 alone, companies shelled out more than $200 million to get their data back. The reason they pay almost $700 per infected computer is because they don’t have a solid backup and recovery strategy in place. When you fail to backup data, you have no choice but to either pay up or lose that information forever. Data loss from disaster or failure is equally expensive, and research shows that 72 percent of all businesses that suffer data loss close their doors within two years.

2. Backup storage is a target for malicious hackers

As businesses move to cloud storage options for their backup services, hackers have started to target these services. If the server, service, and security are not configured properly, which is common, then data is exposed. Not only are these data in one vulnerable location, but they are data that is important enough to back up, so there is likely a payoff. With managed backup services, you have a team of people who are trained and experienced in handling and securing data.

3. Backup is only half of the solution

One of the more common mistakes that businesses make when it comes to business continuity planning is that they check their backups to see if they have completed successfully and leave it at that. When disaster strikes, they find that their recovery fails and wonder what happened. This is because the recovery process wasn’t tested thoroughly, as opposed to testing to failure so that any defects in the process are identified. Vendors will often demonstrate the recovery process, but this isn’t as rigorous as the testing that a good managed backup services provider will perform.

4. Business continuity is more than backup and recovery

Maintaining a successful backup and recovery process for even a small network of computers can be a complex task. If your team doesn’t have dedicated continuity specialists on staff, then you may be leaving out some of the necessary parts of the equation. Check with your team to see who is responsible for tasks like performing a root cause analysis when things fail: What are they doing to improve backup and recovery performance? What is the on-call schedule if someone needs to perform remediation tasks late at night? These are just some of the things that your boss should be aware of.

Managed backup services providers remove the “what if” questions from your mind. With the right partner in your corner, you can feel confident that your data is backed up properly and, most important, you will be able to restore everything if something goes wrong. If nothing else, your boss needs to know that the right partner has the experience and expertise to deal with any problems that might arise when it comes to backing up your company’s data.