Best Practices for Meeting Your Global Data Protection Needs

• We are using more systems, creating more data, more often.
• According to IDC, the global datasphere will grow to 163 zettabytes, ten times the 16. ZB of data generated in 2016.
• Protecting distributed data is a big, complex task.

As the Internet of Things (IoT) expands and evolves, many of our everyday activities will involve connected devices. By 2025, the average person with Internet service will interact with connected devices nearly 4,800 times per day—basically one interaction every 18 seconds.

All this interactivity is generating a lot more data. According to IDC, the global datasphere will grow to 163 zettabytes, ten times the 16. ZB of data generated in 2016. And much of this data will be owned by corporations. Some of it will reside in centralized data repositories, but most of it will be distributed across countless devices and local data stores. And almost all of it will need to be protected, managed, and secured.

Protecting distributed data is a big, complex task. And, if remote data expands faster than IT can manage it, the consequences can be severe. Loss of data and intellectual property, downtime, noncompliance with data privacy regulations, and increased vulnerability to malware are just some of the dangers that businesses without a solid framework for distributed data protection can face.

This ebook outlines proven strategies for protecting your distributed data and reducing your risk.

Are You at Risk?

Most businesses will have to deal with distributed data at some point in their development. However, some situations present more risk than others. The following table highlights three business cases in which distributed data risk is especially high.

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Newly Formed Company Offices

Characteristics:

• Minimal or “TBD” IT presence
• Makeshift or “TBD” backup and recovery policies
• Lack of meaningful internal and external SLAs
• Focus on rapid growth over compliance
• A tendency to put off data protection until the next budget cycle

Potential Risks:

• Permanent data loss
• Downtime resulting from incomplete or nonexistent disaster recovery policies
• Failure to comply with local or regional regulations
• “Data sprawl” and “data creep”: growing stores of decentralized data that become increasingly difficult to handle over time

Remote and Branch Offices

Characteristics:

• Little to no IT presence or “generalist” IT expertise that doesn’t include data protection
• Lack of clear and frequent communication between local IT and data centers
• Established backup and recovery policies that may be frequently disregarded
• Internal or external SLAs that are not frequently monitored
• Reliance on tape and other outdated technologies

Potential Risks:

• Permanent data loss
• Downtime resulting from slow or cumbersome disaster recovery policies
• Failure to comply with local or regional regulations
• Data sprawl or creep
• High costs when IT decides it’s time to upgrade outdated technology

Newly Merged Companies

Characteristics:

• Complex and piecemeal systems, including multiple data centers and data protection systems
• Multiple, potentially conflicting IT organizations
• Lack of consistent backup and recovery policies and SLAs
• Reliance on tape and other outdated technologies
• Limited funds for IT

Potential Risks:

• Permanent data loss and intellectual property risk
• Downtime resulting from incomplete, conflicting, or unworkable disaster recovery policies
• Failure to comply with local or regional regulations, or legal data requirements
• Data sprawl, creep, and duplication
• High costs when IT decides it’s time to standardize the merged company on a
  single data protection platform or upgrade outdated technology

It’s Harder Than You Think

5 Reasons Why Protecting Distributed Data in Decentralized Environments Isn’t Easy

Protecting decentralized data is typically time-consuming, expensive, and incomplete. Why? According to our conversations with customers, the top five potential issues are:

1. Lack of visibility. Corporate IT organizations are responsible for ensuring that local offices comply with data protection policies and tracking SLAs, but they often do not have visibility into what local teams are—and are not—doing. This knowledge gap presents a significant risk.
2. Limited expertise. IT staff at remote offices tend to be generalists and may lack the skills to quickly restore data in the case of a failure. They may also be overworked and face pressure to prioritize customer-facing issues over routine data protection.
3. Manual processes. Manual processes that require non-IT staff to make tape backups and ship them offsite are extremely time-consuming, costly, and often neglected. This is especially true when teams are managing change or growth.
4. Budget constraints. In remote offices, IT funds may be spread thin or tightly controlled by a centralized procurement organization, which can make obtaining funds for data protection very difficult.
5. Regional data privacy rules. Many countries and regions have rules about copying and storing data that was collected locally. In many cases, special expertise is necessary to comply with these rules. Offices that lack this expertise may take the path of least resistance and comply by not backing up data at all.

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