Monthly Archives: April 2017

Migrating to the Cloud with Confidence

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Cloud ComputingMore and more companies are migrating to Cloud Computing to gain competitive advantage and reduce capital expense. According to CompTIA’s 9th annual Security Trends study, companies reported over 80% net usage of Cloud Computing. Over 59% reported moderate or heavy usage. What’s more, the survey found that 68% reported confidence in Cloud providers’ ability to provide a Secure Cloud Environment. An additional 17% responded they were very confident in the security of their Cloud environment. Let’s explore what drives confidence in the Cloud.

How to Assess Cloud Provider Security

There are many variables to consider when evaluating security of a Cloud Provider. According to the study, many companies evaluate their Cloud provider based on encryption–when moving data to the Cloud, it should be encrypted at rest and in transit. In addition, companies should consider the disaster recovery plans of their Cloud Provider. Some Cloud Providers adopt industry standards including SAS 70 to provide consistent, compliant cloud security. Industry standards are often used to evaluate a Cloud Provider. Identity and access management are also criteria for evaluating a Cloud Provider. Many companies also consider geographical location(s) of the Cloud Provider’s data center.  

Consider your Compliance Requirements

Many industries have specific requirements regarding handling data. For example, PCI provides guidelines for how companies handle credit card information. Healthcare, Financial Services and Governments (or companies doing business with Government) also have compliance requirements for handling data. Understanding your requirements is key to ensuring you migrate to the Cloud with confidence. Some data may require implementation of a private cloud environment. Also, a Private Cloud has additional security benefits, being a Cloud environment dedicated to a specific company.

Use the Cloud Responsibly

One of the many benefits of Cloud Computing is ease of deployment. Many Software as a Service (SaaS) applications make it easy for a department within a company to migrate to the Cloud without technical assistance. This technology adoption is known as “Rogue IT.” Having a better understanding of Cloud Security and risk helps your business leaders make smart decisions when it comes to migrating to the Cloud.

If you are migrating to the Cloud or have concerns over your Cloud Security, contact your technology advisor to find out how to migrate to the Cloud with Confidence.

Reducing Business Risk with Backup and Disaster Recovery

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Business ContinuityDoes your business have a backup and disaster recovery plan? Businesses of any size should know which applications–and their associated data–they rely on and what the cost of interruption would be in the event of an unintended disruption. Cyber Threat, natural disasters, and systems failures may impact your business; however, human error is said to be the top cause of data breach (58%), ahead of technology errors. To avoid unnecessary downtime, here are some questions to ask to help assess your backup and disaster recovery plans.

Assess the Risks of Data Loss and System Downtime

With Backup and Disaster Recovery there is always a balance between cost and risk. To allocate your technology spending, it is important to focus on your areas of exposure. Maybe your business relies heavily on an order-processing and invoicing system, or perhaps a manufacturing and inventory control system. If these systems go down you may lose revenue and productivity from employee idle time.  

You may also have intellectual property that is important to your business. What would be the consequence if this data was lost and could not be recovered? You may also have compliance exposure, if you suffered a breach of privacy or other data that should be encrypted was exposed. Assessing your risks and ranking the exposure is an important step to evaluate your backup and disaster recovery plan priorities.

Not all Backup Plans are Alike

For systems you rely on heavily, you may consider having an offsite failover system in the event of a data loss. This can minimize your downtime by enabling you to rapidly cut over to a live system running in parallel to your production environment. Having daily (or even hourly) backups of these systems will minimize downtime for your mission-critical applications and their data.

Other information, including files and other productivity applications, may not need such rapid recovery. Many File Sync and Share applications also provide real-time recovery using Cloud Backup technologies. For productivity applications, this may provide a cost-effective way for you to keep your team productive in the event of a data loss. Some data that may not reside in the cloud, however, needs weekly backup. This regular backup would allow the information to be recovered on an as-needed basis, ensuring continuity in a cost-effective manner.

Testing your Backup and Disaster Recovery Plan

Periodic testing of your backup and disaster recovery plan is suggested to ensure things are working, in order to minimize downtime and related business disruption. Size of data, network capacity, and other variables could extend your backup window beyond your time requirements. In addition, data may get corrupted during the backup process. So it is important to verify and test your backups to provide confidence in your ability to recover from a disaster.

Every business is different and will have different disaster recovery needs. To ensure that your backup and disaster recovery plan meets your needs, contact your technology advisor for an assessment.