Data is a perpetually growing force in our world. And as more and more data is generated as management and protection of that data becomes more critical for business success.
On one hand that’s a positive, because more data means more information means better decisions, outcomes and plans. But on the other hand, it means there’s a whole lot more data that organizations are under obligation to safeguard.
It’s critical to protect this information as we use it, whether that’s from cyberattacks, natural disasters, human error or failures in cybersecurity procedures. We’ll explore more on why it is critical that enterprises keep their data backed up and protected as we become more reliant on it throughout this blog.
What is enterprise data?
Enterprise data is a wide-ranging, unique challenge because of the sheer amount of it generated and the large number of people who need to use it at any given time.
Enterprise data is a broad term that can include obvious things like sales information, business plans and emails but extends all the way to personal employee and customer information. Enterprises need to protect themselves and secure their data because any kind of interruption can have serious consequences for the business.
Enterprise data protection, data privacy and data security
Data protection, data privacy and data security may all seem to say the same thing, but there are key differences to each. Enterprise data protection is the ongoing backup, retention and continued access of data. Data privacy is the practice of keeping unwanted eyes away from collected data and increased transparency as to how can access data.
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is an example of a law passed to mandate data privacy for citizens in the EU. The law requires businesses, even those outside of the EU, to protect the data and privacy of citizens, and regulates how information like location, IP address and more sensitive information like health or demographic information is stored by companies. Enterprises must prove to the government that they are compliant and store sensitive data correctly.
Additionally, GDPR allows for a person’s right to be forgotten. An individual can request an organization to remove any of their personal data that that organization has collected over time. This can complicate data management there are legal reason why that data should be removed to protect the individual, but there are also reasons an enterprise may retain that information.
Data security is different than data protection because in the sense that it is more specifically targeted toward protecting data from cyberattacks, ransomware, internal data security and other existential threats. By setting protection plans and putting infrastructure in place, you are contributing to the data security of your enterprise.
Data protection challenges and threats
Maybe the most significant challenge enterprises face in the next five years is not just securing their data — it’s the ever-increasing scale of data they will work with.
According to the Frost & Sullivan report “The Data Protection Guide for Enterprise Modernization,” the number of IoT devices is expected to triple from 3 billion in 2020 to 9 billion in 2025.
That’s not all. A whopping 70 percent of businesses will generate at least 25 percent more data every year, according to the same study. As businesses push to automate more of their decision-making, even more data will be generated. As a result, data will become more critical to the business and becomes the energy that powers business. If it were ever to become unavailable, in accessible or compromised, business processes, operations come to a sudden and jarring stop.
The time is now to modernize backup and replication processes, and data security practices. Business leaders agree because 51 percent of company leaders say data is their most pressing business issue, according to the Frost & Sullivan report.
Enterprise data security challenges
Enterprises face unique challenges with data security because of the large amounts of sensitive data — including customer data, some of which is affected by government and industry regulations — that they interact with. This data has obvious, enormous value to the enterprise. And what makes it valuable for enterprise makes it an even more appetizing target for ransomware.
Because enterprises have so many people accessing data frequently, this also opens up the opportunity for more mistakes. Enterprises need to take steps to protect their data, document operations processes, enforce them with policies and communicate security plans clearly and frequently to employees and others who access their information to help plug those holes.
Keeping data secure doesn’t just help keep the enterprise operate safely — it protects the reputation of the business. Putting in the work to secure business data, including customer information. Losing that data could dramatically impact how the public sees a business.
Enterprise data protection strategy (best practices)
Enterprises should take the time to ensure their data protection strategy is up to date. A great start to keeping data secure is by following the 3-2-1-1-0 Rule, seen below:
- Three different copies of data on
- Two or more different media
- One off-site copy and
- One copy that is either air-gapped, immutable or offline.
- Zero recovery errors with SureBackup recovery verification
Enterprises can embrace hybrid cloud backup and feel pretty good about their data security by following those steps.
The Frost & Sullivan report recommends focusing on a single vendor or platform to help streamline IT processes and decisions. Using a single vendor with a comprehensive platform can streamline processes and interactions and prevent gaps that might arise if moving from backup platform to backup platform.
This also helps standardize operations and practices across an enterprise’s organizations to increase efficiencies. For example, data reuse for testing, development environment and data mining are all added benefits of well managed data protection operations. And single platform powered view across all your data protection greatly improves the accuracy and efficiencies of tracking and reporting for regulatory compliance.
Enterprises should also focus on where their data is being stored. Is the enterprise only using cloud-based backups? Hybrid-cloud? How many workloads are being stored, how many are being accessed and where do those workloads reside are important questions to consider.
Using a solution that can scale with the growth of data and other challenges is beneficial to an enterprise, too. Enterprises need to factor in the need to pivot quickly in response to any challenges that arrive, just as they did when the pivot from office-life to work-from-home started in 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Veeam enterprise protection solutions
Solutions like Veeam Backup & Replication and Veeam ONE are built to keep an enterprise’s data accessible and secure.
Veeam Backup & Replication serves as a single backup recovery and data solution for all workloads, both on-premises and in the cloud. By utilizing a solution like Veeam Backup & Replication, you’re using single platform and a powerful aid to secure and protect your data, and you’re one step closer to business continuity if disaster does strike.
Veeam ONE enhances Veeam Backup & Replication by enabling real-time monitoring, business documentation and management reporting. In other words, you’re making it easier to be GDPR compliant by tracking and monitoring your data, any time of day.
To learn more about how you can protect your enterprise, check out the Frost & Sullivan report “The Data Protection Guide for Enterprise Modernization.”
You can also visit Veeam.com to learn more about the comprehensive Veeam platform.