Most businesses ask whether backups ran. A more useful question is: “What could we restore by tomorrow morning?” The answer depends on what was protected, how often copies were made, where they live, and whether anyone has practiced using them.
Identify the work that cannot wait
Write down the systems your team needs first: scheduling, client files, accounting, email, or a specialized application. Decide how much recent data the business could afford to lose and how long each system could be unavailable. Those decisions shape the backup schedule and recovery plan.
Check what is actually covered
Cloud software may keep its own service running, but that does not automatically answer how your organization will recover an accidentally deleted file, a compromised account, or a mistaken change. Confirm the scope of each product's retention and export tools. Include laptops and local servers where important data still lives.
Keep a protected copy separated from ordinary accounts and systems so an attacker or accidental change cannot easily affect every copy.
Practice a restore
Choose a representative file and a critical system. Restore them in a controlled test, confirm the data is usable, and record how long it took. Then fix the gaps: missing permissions, outdated instructions, an application dependency, or a backup that did not cover the expected folder.
A recovery plan does not have to be a binder no one reads. It needs clear owners, priorities, contact information, and proof that the process works.
Further reading: CISA Data Backup Options and CISA StopRansomware Guide.