Businesses, in essence, are all data-driven. They depend on the customer insights to further improve their products and services. Data is what also helps them create wise business decisions and make their operations much more streamlined and efficient. This fact has become more apparent with the influx of the Internet and relevant business tools. With the importance of data, you need to make sure that yours are protected and properly managed.
This is where data management becomes valuable. Many businesses have troubles grasping the concept. These are the businesses that take their data for granted. You should see the bigger picture and come up with a set of solutions for your business.
You may find it hard to start, but there are some ways you can make things much easier. First off, organize your thoughts. Know your priorities. Once you have done it, it is time to follow the pointers below.
Allocation of Space
In this aspect, you are expected to have provisions for your data. In layman’s term, you should know where you will put your data. It can be in a server or on a local hard drive; it all depends on you. What matters is that the storage of data is organized so retrieval will be easy. You may also consider getting cloud business intelligence solutions such as LOADSPRING to streamline certain aspects of allocation. Part of this aspect is the naming protocol of data and the management of the capacities of your hard drives, servers, and cloud storages.
The Protection
Now that you have organized your data, it is a must that you set up security measures to keep data burglars and hackers from accessing your drives. It may also mean that the data is not corrupt or laden with viruses and malware that may compromise the system and other data sets. This should go beyond setting up firewalls and installing anti-virus software. You should also teach your IT team or security team to identify signs of social engineering, as some hackers can get past your data-based security set-ups by simply conversing with your staff.
The Duplication
Part of protecting your data is the creation of back-ups. Creating data back-ups should be done regularly. For most businesses, it is done weekly or monthly. Back-ups will ensure that you will still have something to work with should your primary system get compromised. With that, your back-up should be safely tucked away in multiple places, which can be accessed easily.
Protocols for Retrieval
Accessing and retrieving data should be done with full discretion, especially if the data’s nature is confidential. Your privacy officer may draft a set of protocols that need to be followed before getting access to data. The protocols may also involve recovery should data get lost or compromised.
Your data is your business’s assets. They are what help you create wise business decisions, so you need to protect them. Draft a comprehensive policy that will help your employees understand the gravity of the case.
