tuesday September 7, 2010
BEING VIGILANT: According to a survey, two thirds of the IT staff time of SMBs are spent working on information protection, including computer security, backup, recovery and archiving as well as disaster preparedness. - AP
By ERIC HOH
EVERY day, around the world, people from all walks of life use information to make important decisions on a variety of matters. This is true across the broad section of human activity, more so in areas related to economic and commercial endeavour.
The dependence of economies on information is obvious, with modern-day business and commercial activities relying on using information and the ever-widening communications networks.
These activities include critical areas that provide fundamental services to the public, such as banking, utilities, and transportation.
The smooth-running of these sectors have a heavy bearing on public welfare and national security, hence the importance of undisrupted information delivery and availability cannot be underestimated.
Information must not only remain safe but must be accessible to the right people at the right time. Budgets must be met, whilst productivity levels are maintained or improved.
What's more, compliance with regulatory requirements for the proper handling of sensitive information must be achieved and verified, and the existing resources should be optimised.
This applies to all businesses, small and medium businesses (SMBs) included. Any loss of information critical to operations can have an impact on businesses, regardless of its size. As such, putting in place systems to ensure that information is always protected and available should be a priority for SMBs.
Challenges for SMBs
It is an uncomfortable thought when you consider that an SMB's most valuable information could become its greatest loss in a matter of seconds. An SMB's reputation, relationships and time are critical to success and downtime or lost of information can cause irreparable damage.
The statistics bear this out - Symantec's 2010 Global SMB Information Protection Survey found that small and medium businesses are now making protecting their information their highest IT priority, as opposed to 15 months ago when a high percentage had failed to enact even the most basic safeguards.
This shift makes sense as SMBs are facing increased threats from cyberattacks, lost devices and loss of confidential or proprietary information. The average SMB globally now spends approximately US$51,000 (RM163,000) a year to protect its information.
Malaysian SMBs surveyed rank data loss (78%) and cyberattacks (55%) as their top business risks, and they showed a heightened interest and increased investment in information protection.
Two thirds of IT staff time are now spent working on information protection, including computer security, backup, recovery and archiving as well as disaster preparedness.
Cost has often been cited as a big barrier to adequate protection by SMBs. Growing storage costs are commonly blamed on the avalanche of information that needs to be secured, managed and retained.
However, backup need not be costly and in a large number of cases, SMBs are not using the storage resources they have efficiently, which leads to unnecessary spiralling costs.
To protect their information effectively and quickly, SMBs need a simple but powerful backup system that can automate backups at a reasonable cost. With simplified data protection approach, SMBs can reduce the complexity, save time and increase reliability and availability, all at the same time.
Technologies such as disk-based backup, snapshot backups, data deduplication, continuous data protection, and cloud-based backup options can help SMBs address data protection concerns.
For SMBs, money and staff time are at a premium, and there will always be something more pressing to do than manage backups. However, as the volume of information increases, so does the risk to a company's bottom line if that information is not protected.
Smart investments
Ensuring that information is well managed and easily recoverable is essential for keeping business productive and profitable. Without proper protection, it could take days, if not weeks, and require significant expenditure to recover important business information from an infrastructure failure, natural disaster, or simple human error.
There are many solutions available in the market designed to address backup and recovery challenges that constantly put SMBs under increasing pressure, especially when staff and resources are limited.
SMBs should look for solutions that offer simplified management, the ability to scale as their business grows, and make the most of their current investments to ensure that backup cost does not surge.
SMB environments may not need the scale provided by enterprise backup and recovery solutions, but they do need much of the functionality. That means policy-based backups, automated operations, and centralised management should be key design to help lightly staffed SMBs effectively manage system and data protection operations.
Ultimately, it is critical for SMBs to prioritise their investment on solutions that provide enterprise-class protection with minimal administration, so that they can focus their resources, time and budget on the success of their business.
Eric Hoh is vice-president for Asia South region at Symantec Corporation which helps organisations secure and manage their information
source : http://techcentral.my/columns/industryviews/story.aspx?file=/2010/9/7/it_col_industryviews/20100907162619&sec=IT_Columns_IndustryViews
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