Managing large amounts of data over time requires strategic planning combined with the most appropriate technology. Anyone can store an organization’s files in the cloud; however, it takes deliberate management to ensure that those files do not turn into a massive, costly problem. By utilizing these five best practices for data management, your team can prevent data problems before they occur.
Best Practice #1: Limit Your Amount of Active Data
It is very expensive to maintain a lot of data in a live environment where data is immediately accessible. Limiting the amount of your organization’s active data will reduce storage costs. Our team at Net-Tech will walk your organization through the process of identifying archive-rich targets to show how long it’s been since data has been accessed and when it’s time to archive it.
If there is a large amount of active data, it could take days (if not weeks) to restore it in an emergency. That will leave your system and your organization potentially unable to operate normally for an extended period.
To prevent this disruption, Net-Tech will identify which files need to be archived and set up an archive retrieval process which includes setting the expectation of how long it will take. This is a standard step in our onboarding and data management services.
Check Out These Data Management FAQs.
Best Practice #2: You Don’t Have to Store Everything in the Cloud
Storing ALL of your data in the cloud can be time-consuming and expensive. To access large files in the cloud, your provider may charge ingress fees each time a user accesses the file and egress fees each time it is offloaded back to the cloud.
It also takes a lot of time to retrieve large files because you’re dealing with a typical internet connection over standard WiFi that is not built to handle them. Specifically, marketing artwork and video files are large, as well as CAD files and other files used by engineering firms. It takes a lot of time to get these large files to and from the cloud to work on them.
Net-Tech provides the best tools for your organization to store its data, giving you all of the benefits of the cloud (monthly subscription, included upgrades, etc.) with the predictability of traditional on-premises solutions.
Best Practice #3: Regularly Test Your Backup & Recovery Processes
Regardless of whether your data is in the cloud or on-premises, regularly test your backups. If you don’t manage your data or the size of your data, you can’t back it up. If your data gets too big for the backup and disaster recovery hardware, then you won’t be able to restore it.
In the event of a data breach, this leads to serious issues, such as violating compliance guidelines and permanent data loss, which can negatively affect your business in many ways. You’ll also suddenly be faced with a major project (and expense) to replace and upgrade your backup and recovery hardware.
Similarly, if you never delete any data, then it will make the recovery process unacceptably long. As the amount of stored data increases, the window of restore time increases. Over time, data sprawls, and if you don’t pay attention, your data could go from 1 gigabyte and 3 hours to backup to 30 gigabytes and 3 weeks to backup. Can your business afford to be offline for 3 weeks while your data is backed up?
Best Practice #4: Proactively Manage Your Data Access
If you’re not managing your data, then you don’t have permissions to it. When you lack permissions, you don’t know who has access to your files and folders. Many organizations don’t stay on top of their data management. They don’t check to see whether past employees can still access files and folders, which increases the risk of a data breach.
If you proactively manage your data access, you limit the number of individuals who can attempt to exploit your system.
16 Questions You Should Ask Your IT Team
Best Practice #5: Delete Files According to Compliance Guidelines
Many companies are liable for their data for X amount of time. It is essential to store all affected data for the legally required amount of time – and then delete it as soon as that timeframe expires. Otherwise, it could result in expensive problems. Data retention policies are different for every industry. Always consult with your legal teams to determine these timelines.
As your tech partner, we proactively work to make sure you comply with your industry requirements. Each year, our team at Net-Tech performs the house-keeping exercise of identifying which files need to be purged based on your compliance framework.
Rely on Net-Tech for Your Data Management Services
Simply storing your data in the cloud leads to expensive and time-consuming problems down the line. At Net-Tech, we have developed standardized procedures for managing data that we then tailor to each of our client’s needs. We bring decades of experience to your organization, and we are committed to working with you as not just your tech partner, but as your business partner. We invite you to schedule a consultation with us today.