Your Backup Isn’t a Backup If You’ve Never Tested It
- C J
- Apr 23
- 2 min read
By Corey Joinville
President & Chief Information Officer, AnchorPoint CIO Inc.
Most companies will tell you:
“Yeah, we have backups.”
But when I ask one simple question:
“When was the last time you tested a full restore?”
That’s where things fall apart.
The False Sense of Security
Backups give business owners confidence.
Until they don’t.
What I see all the time:
Backups running… but failing silently
Files backing up, but not systems
No offsite or cloud redundancy
No one responsible for validating them
It looks good on paper.
But in reality — it’s risk.
What Happens When It Goes Wrong
In manufacturing and engineering environments, downtime isn’t just inconvenient.
It’s expensive.
Production stops
Engineers can’t access programs
Orders get delayed
Customers lose confidence
And suddenly, that “backup system” becomes your biggest liability.
What a Real Backup Strategy Looks Like
A proper backup and recovery plan includes:
Daily backup verification (not just completion)
Offsite or cloud redundancy
Full system image backups (not just files)
Regular restore testing
Clear recovery time expectations (RTO/RPO)
Most importantly:
Someone owns it.
The Question Every Business Should Ask
If your server went down right now:
How long would you be offline?
What data would you lose?
Who would take control of the situation?
If the answer is unclear — that’s the problem.
Final Thought
Backups aren’t about having a system.
They’re about having confidence under pressure.
If you’ve never tested your backup, you don’t have one.
📩 If you want a second opinion on your backup strategy, I’m always open to a conversation.
Written by Corey Joinville
President & Chief Information Officer, AnchorPoint CIO Inc.
Corey is a Fractional CIO helping businesses take control of IT, reduce cybersecurity risk, and align technology with real business outcomes. With experience leading multi-million-dollar IT environments across North America, he works directly with ownership and executive teams to bring structure, strategy, and accountability to technology.
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