With the excessive amounts of data circulating in today’s modern organizations, the importance offinding a perfect storage solution, that can safeguard data, is deemed more imperative than ever. As data generation shows no signs of slowing down, it’s necessary to realize and accept that neither backup alone nor cloud alone will likely be a sufficient storage and disaster recovery plan to protect all that data. Moving forward, companies will need to find a perfect balance between cloud and on-premises storage to fit their unique needs.
When Disaster Strikes…
Organizations are storing and retaining more information each day than ever before.In fact, the global datasphere is expected to grow from 33 Zettabytes in 2018 to 175 Zettabytes by 2025.1As the digital age continues to evolve, companies can more easily capture increasing amounts of data to drive insight and business decisions. They are taking advantage of the latest developments to support analytics, drive sales and identify what customers are looking for. With this much important data coming in, businesses need to ensure its safety in case of a disaster that could cause downtime and data loss. Anything ranging from ransomware and cybersecurity attacks to user error to natural disasters like hurricanes, fires, tornadoes and floods are all potential threats to data storage – but they’re all threats that can be overcome with the proper protection.
Most organizations today are utilizing cloud services in some form or another. Cloud computing not only offers flexibility but also elasticity with the rapid growth of data. Although this may be suitable for some data, highly sensitive information needs additional layers of protection and may not be suitable for just the cloud alone. Organizations need to consider what data is being stored and where – a one size fits all is not always the best approach. Although it’s important to leverage the benefits of the cloud for flexibility and freedom, combining this with an on-premises solution for archiving cold data, or to add extra layers of data protection, will allow businesses to create a more fine-tuned architecture. In addition, businesses can still enjoy the flexibility of the cloud, by utilizing on-premises storage that leaves links or stubs in the cloud for easy access.
Despite the plethora of business benefits the cloud provides, it’s key for organizations to find the right ‘cloud balance.’ Somebusinesses may be using the cloud effectively, but others could be racking up high costs due to size expansion or breaking GDPR or other compliance rules due to the sensitivity and storage of information collected. For many organizations creating a balanced infrastructure is essential – with a hybrid middle ground, businesses can utilize the best of both public cloud and on-premises solutions. Once the right balance is found, the next step to ensure disaster recovery and business continuity. After all, data can be one of the most valuable business assets.
No Need For Fear…
Organizations should aim for a solution that safeguards data, meets regulatory demands, and offers protection against ransomware and data corruption, whether accidental or malicious. With these DR features running in the background there will be no user impact and if data is lost or corrupted it can be reinstalled instantly.
Many organizations implement backup as a way to recover from a breach or data loss. Doing so remains fundamentally important. But, with comprehensive disaster recovery and data protection capabilities in place, organizations can go a step further and ensure business continuity.
The future for technology is full of incredible amounts of data and organizations have a duty to protect and safeguard this information. While some data may be suited to the cloud, other data needs to remain on-premises whether it’s due to capacity concerns or data sensitivity. Even archived data needs to be offered the same level of protection, and not simply discarded.
By implementing a hybrid approach, organizations can bring sensitive, data intensive or cold data on-premises – freeing up valuable cloud storage space. Not only will there be a cost incentive by reducing those monthly cloud service bills, but with on-premises storage security can be heightened and organizations can meet GDPR and many other compliance regulations.
1 Data Age 2025 – The Digitization of the World From Edge to Core, An IDC White Paper
The opinions expressed in this post belong to the individual contributors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Information Security Buzz.