IN A WORLD WITH EVER-INCREASING DATA, HOW CAN YOU MANAGE YOURS?
If your company is operating on computers, which we assume is everyone reading this blog on the internet, that means you’re creating data. Constantly creating and re-creating data. Before long, you run out of digital storage and don’t have anywhere to keep that data. Back in the day, that meant we just bough another file cabinet. But now, that’s not exactly how it works. It’s not easy to just buy a new hard drive and migrate all your data. What can you do to properly manage your company’s important and sensitive information?
The Accessibility and Security Paradigm
The first consideration in data management needs to be weighing access and security. You and your company want clear, easy access to your files. If an employee has permission to view a file, they shouldn’t have to jump through hoops to open it. However, you also need to ensure the security of your files. You have employee records, financial information, trade secrets, all stored digitally. This information needs to be secure to protect your company and those in it moving forward. You should weigh all data options through this lens.
Cloud Backups
A good way to ensure your data will be adequately backed up and secure is through the cloud. You can set your data to be backed up as frequently or infrequently as you like. Once the data is backed up, you can access it from anywhere with an internet connection. With cloud backups, it is essential to choose a provider with security at the forefront of their offering. Your information can be accessed by anyone if security measures are inadequate.
External Hard Drive Backups
Another way to keep your data safe and ensure you always have it is through physical backups done on location. These can only be accessed by someone holding the hard drive. Of course, this reduces convenience for you, but it also reduces the security threat. Hard drive backups are a good idea for your most sensitive information.
If you go this route, it’s a good idea to store the hard drives in multiple locations. For instance, backing up your data to two separate hard drives every Friday and having two separate employees take them home is a great security measure – as long as you trust those employees. Don’t let just anyone take the hard drives home. But, if you have trustworthy employees, you will now have information backups at your main location, and two separate locations. Redundancy is good.
File Access
A final consideration to keep in mind is who in your company will have access to what files. Do you have a shared drive where everything is visible? You might want to set restrictions on who can see what. By completely removing the ability for employees to see files they don’t need access to, you can eliminate the threat altogether.
Conclusion
Your data is important to your company. If it wasn’t, you wouldn’t have any data at all! Make sure your data is protected from outsiders, yet also accessible to your employees. If necessary, bring in a digital data specialist to help you manage your most valuable information.
