5 Common ServiceNow Data Backup Mistakes and How You Can Prevent Them

A ServiceNow data backup could save your organization a huge expense in the event of data loss.

As organizations grapple to stay future-proof, digital transformation continues to be an integral part of every CXO’s business goals. Businesses are prioritizing moving from manual operations to cloud backed processes, but are they investing as many resources into managing and securing their data better? 

Many organizations are choosing ServiceNow to facilitate their IT Service Management initiatives. The rapid shift to doing business online has resulted in increased data volumes, with ServiceNow user’s data growing also.

But do you have control over your ServiceNow data’s backup and restoration?

Anything from human error to unexpected tech glitches can result in loss of data. Now imagine what would happen if your data was not backed up? 

For many organizations reliant on ServiceNow’s out-of-the-box (OOTB) functionality for backup and restore, this is the reality. A number of limitations to ServiceNow’s backup and restore OOTB can disrupt organization’s backup and disaster recovery (BDR) strategies.

If you are unable to restore your ServiceNow data and applications quickly, the resulting downtime can bring your business operations to a halt. No one thinks there might be a data backup problem until the problem occurs.

This article highlights five common ServiceNow Data Backup Mistakes and how your team can work towards preventing them. 

5 Common ServiceNow Data Backup Mistakes

Mistake 1# Assuming that your ServiceNow Implementation partner is responsible for all of your data. 

Very often, organizations work on the assumption that ServiceNow Implementation Partners will be responsible for storing and backing up their data. That is a dangerous presumption. Most SaaS solutions including ServiceNow generally need organizations to maintain shared responsibility of data. 

By design, ServiceNow features multiple network pathways in order to avoid a single point of failure. But that does not guarantee that your data will always remain secure. 

It is critical for organizations to have alternative data storage solutions in place so they can continue working in case of outages and data loss. It’s also important to ensure that your alternative data backup occurs consistently and that the process is devoid of glitches that may increase the risk of data loss. 

Mistake 2# Not anticipating risk and working towards setting up a fail safe restoration plan 

Ponemon Institute’s 2022 Global State of Cybersecurity of Small and Medium-Sized Businesses report revealed that at least 61% of their small and medium sized business sample size reported a loss or theft of sensitive data in the last 12 months.  

Various factors can place your business’ data under high risk. These range from simple human errors, tornadoes and floods destroying physical data warehouses, to ransomware attacks. It is important that your business combs through all potential risks and weeds them out before they can cause data loss and subsequent business interruptions. 

Data loss incidents under ServiceNow won’t just impact your tech team. As the heart of many organization’s ITSM strategies, it can bring business processes to a stand still. It is recommended to have data or a disaster recovery plan in place in case of any such incidents. 

Mistake 3# Relying entirely on ServiceNow scheduled Backups 

While ServiceNow has its own backup capabilities, it doesn’t provide much flexibility. Without the ability to set flexible backup times, backup on-demand, or select what should be backed up, it may not be in line with your backup requirements. 

Further, as of May 8th 2023, ServiceNow cut the amount of time backups are retained in half. The platform now retains full backups for 14 days only (down from 28).

Having control on the data you need to backup and the time intervals helps you stay ahead and be prepared for emergencies. Perspectium’s DataSync Snapshoot solution helps you configure your data backups with ease.

Mistake 4#  Not ensuring role based access to secure data 

A lack of protocols and capabilities regarding access to secure data dramatically increases risk to the organization . So when you use a cloud backed service like ServiceNow, it is important to maintain a restricted or limited number of personnel with access to secure data. 

Employees with access to sensitive data may even turn rogue and manipulate data, sell it, steal it or even erase it. Maintaining restricted access can reduce the risk of data loss. Additionally, it is important to cautiously assign the role of custodian for the backup encryption key. 

Mistake 5# Not testing data back ups 

When you set up back data, it is compressed to fit into a storage space. However, what happens if the backup files get corrupted? It is imperative that your team consistently tests its data restoration process in order to ensure that the backup can be up and running quickly when required. 

Take Control of ServiceNow Data Backups with Perspectium 

As a cloud based platform, ServiceNow can do its bit to help your organization digitize its functions and run more efficiently, but it can do so much more. ServiceNow has the potential to be the building block for durable business operations. 

That being said, as a business, you will need to do your bit by anticipating data backup errors and preventing data loss. Ensure that your organization has a robust data backup system in place to ensure seamless business operations and operational resilience. 

With Perspectium DataSync Snapshot, you control your ServiceNow backup and restore. You choose what and when you backup, and you restore with a single button click. Simple. Fast. Under Your Control. Complete the form on this page to watch the DataSync Snapshot introduction and demo for the first native solution to your ServiceNow backup and restore problems.

Talk to our team to understand how you can efficiently backup and restore your ServiceNow Data.