Amid all the discussion around big data over the past few years, there’s a more fundamental question businesses need to be asking themselves: Do I know where my company’s data is residing?
Thanks to the bring-your-own-device (BYOD) evolution, many employees are using three or more disparate devices in the workplace. That means valuable data isn’t just in one or two places; it is scattered across public and private clouds, servers and networks, which can be a nightmare for data protection, access, collaboration and backup.
So, if your company is playing “hide and seek” with valuable information, how do you make sure it is secure and accessible, no matter where it is hiding?
Laying out the Groundwork for the BYOD Trend
The fact is, more employees are storing files on their personal devices than ever before, but most businesses have no protocols for making sure these files are securely backed up somewhere else. In the UK, for example, the Information Commissioner’s Office found that less than 30 percent of workers have been given any kind of guidelines on how to properly manage company data.
So, imagine that your company’s marketing manager has an Excel document with the company’s most loyal customers stored on his iPad. Now, what if that iPad suffers an untimely demise from a coffee spill? Well, that data could be lost for good. And, when it’s time to roll out a loyalty program, then what? If only IT knew where that data was residing and could have coordinated a backup plan.
If businesses are playing hide and seek with big data, there’s a big risk for data loss. As IT environments grow increasingly more complex and rely on physical, virtual and cloud infrastructure, knowing the exact location of every piece of data becomes that much more difficult, and important.
Syncing, Security and Policy
To stop playing hide and seek with Big Data, businesses have to implement a streamlined process. The key is to make sure that employees know all company files — whether they’re on a work computer, tablet, personal laptop or smartphone — have to be synced to the network and then backed up in central locations… yes, locations… plural.
A dual-destination back up plan that eliminates single points of failure and optimises the use of the cloud, as well as physical storage, is crucial to making sure corporate data is safe and available when you need it. Nowadays, there are backup solutions that can sync files from any platform, be it Mac or PC, iPad or Android.
If you are playing hide and seek with data, consider ending the game today. With just a few policy tweaks, IT can guarantee that all company information is secure and accessible, not just the files that are already on the internal network.
Are you playing games with your data?
