Caucus Complications: Data Backup and Recovery

A new smartphone app, “Shadow”, was recently introduced as a way to collect the results of the Democratic Party caucus in Iowa. As Tuesday afternoon rolled around, results were still not reported due to a problem with the app. According to Alexis Madrigal from the Atlantic, “The shadow app struggled at the final step of the results-reporting process… while the app was recording data accurately, it was reporting out only partial data”. Shadow Inc. later confirmed this on twitter, “As the Iowa Democratic Party has confirmed, the underlying data and collection process via Shadow’s mobile caucus app was sound and accurate, but our process to transmit the caucus results data generated via the app to the IDP was not.” Although the technology issues caused a setback, “because of the required paper documentation, we have been able to verify that the data recorded in the app and used to calculate State Delegate Equivalents is valid and accurate”. Although the voting closed on Monday night, the party was not able to release the results until after 5:00 pm on Tuesday.

Shadow was unable to recover the data completely, and as a result, Iowa Democratic Party officials had to manually verify the data. The process of verification was both frustrating and tedious. Although the data backup and recovery technology differ, similar situations could occur in your own businesses. Consider your plan for data backup and recovery. Do you have a secure way to store your data? If disaster does occur, is there a quick and easy way for you to recover your data? This situation with Shadow has reiterated the need for data backup and recovery.

Trinsio powered by Rubrik offers a “set it and forget it approach” which simplifies the process of data backup and recovery. With near-zero recovery time and an easy-to-use cloud backup software, you can be sure your data is protected and easily accessible. One way that Rubrik technology makes your data easily accessible is the at-a-glance view that displays detailed reports and notifications about the data.