Managing your organization’s data is more than just another thing that you have to gloss over in your attempt at running your business. The simple truth is that your data is one of your business’ most valuable assets. There are several parts to every organization’s data management strategy, and today we will go through three of the most crucial: Storage, sharing, and security.
The first part of storing files is having the capacity to do so. Unlike years ago when there were constant innovations in hardware dedicated to storing and transporting data, today, there are options that can be used that don’t require the purchase of hardware directly. Before we get into that, however, let’s cover hardware storage. Many businesses still have some types of hardware on their premises. This is typically reserved for mission-critical files and other proprietary data administrators simply don’t feel comfortable transmitting over the Internet.
Some organizations still host their own data, and their servers have large-capacity hard drives that require monitoring, active redundancy, and a serious failover plan. Most outfits nowadays choose Internet-hosted cloud storage for many of their business’ computing needs. There are many advantages to using cloud-hosted storage, including the ability to easily and affordably scale to need (so you aren’t short on storage or investing in underutilized hardware). Cloud storage can be integrated into many platforms that allow for users to get the data they need when they need it without heavy investment, and cuts way down on the investment required to manage these systems because the cloud provider offers that as a part of the service.
Ultimately, whichever you choose comes down to the requirements of the data that is being stored and the Internet connections that are looking to access the data. For 99 percent of data, today’s high-speed Internet connections can provide enough juice to ensure your operations run seamlessly. For years, many organizations didn’t overtly trust cloud computing to properly secure their data or ensure it was available when needed. Nowadays, however, it's being used by many organizations without hesitation. Whether or not this is a solid strategy for your business is up to you, but with cloud storage, an affordable alternative to locally hosted data storage, you have some real options for choosing the proper data storage for your needs.
For the large majority of today’s businesses, having the ability to share data securely is mandatory. There are several reasons for this, but ultimately, the organizations that can retrieve the data they need faster will get things done faster. This directly affects any organization’s bottom line. Of course, plenty of variables need to be handled to ensure that data is not only available to share but secure in transit.
File sharing gets a little more tricky if you choose to host your own data. Suppose you are an organization that believes having full possession and control of data is a benefit. In that case, you will need to be able to support your workers by giving them direct access to locally stored data. There are several ways to get this done, but remember: the more efficient your file sharing is, the faster your business can operate. The best way to set this up is by setting up a file-sharing server that will allow you to manage access to applications and data hosted on your business’ network. Some organizations that don’t need the extra IT to manage will use a Virtual Private Network (VPN) that will give users access to locally hosted data, but is significantly slower and can cause frustration and inefficiency.
This extra setup and expense is why many businesses use the cloud. File sharing in the cloud is much more straightforward. You pay a monthly fee per user, and not only do users get access to the data they need around the clock from any location with an Internet connection, on a whole slew of devices, the platforms typically come with integrated tools such as project management, collaboration tools, communications tools, and productivity tools.
Nowadays, there are more threats looking to steal, scrape, and corrupt data than at any time in the short history of the Internet; and it’s only going to get worse. To be able to protect data in the tumultuous landscape of enterprise computing, organizations have to deploy a multi-faceted approach—even if they don’t actively host their own data. Today’s threats such as phishing and other social engineering tactics take advantage of users' indifference and the speed in which they need to complete tasks to gain access to accounts, steal or corrupt data and use it for their own benefit.
The good news is that data protection strategies are largely the same regardless of if you host your own data or use cloud-hosted storage; although if you host your own systems, there is much more that you will need to monitor and manage. The man hours, tools, and training make it more expensive, but you will have to do a comparison to see if this strategy will ultimately cost less then the equivalent in cloud licenses. Our professional managed IT services can help mitigate the cost of hiring a team of administrators to handle this, presenting easily the best option if you are dead set on hosting your critical information systems.
Regardless of what you choose to do from a management standpoint, you’ll need to think of it as an onion protecting your data at the center. The thicker the outside layers of the onion are, the more secure the center of the onion will be. Unfortunately, many of the attacks are coming at your data onion with a chef’s knife, making it important that attention, time, and energy are put into every layer of your cybersecurity efforts. Not only will you need to deploy tools like firewalls, antivirus and other endpoint protection tools, but you will need to invest in training your staff on the best practices of creating solid passwords, avoiding phishing attacks, and secure data handling procedures.
At First Column IT, we work with organizations every day that trust us to keep their data and infrastructure secure. Give us a call at (571) 470-5594 to learn more about how we can help you create a data management strategy that can keep your business productive, efficient, and secure.
