Archives for August 2018

Don’t Forget Data!

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There’s a lot to consider when writing a business continuity plan. The plan needs to establish the process for continuing business operations in the event of a disaster, incident or outage. Business continuity plans don’t focus on IT systems, but the departments that are supported by IT, including sales, customer service, and HR. In addition, it’s essential to plan for the protection and recovery of the company’s data.

Why is it so important to protect data? To put it simply, your data is the lifeblood of your company. Without it, you can’t fulfill orders, communicate with customers, product reports, measure progress, contact employees, market your business and more. Data is essential to both day-to-day operations and long-term objectives, which is why it’s so important to include in business continuity discussions.

A good business continuity plan will cover both data protection (the process of safeguarding information from corruption or loss), and data recovery, (the process of restoring data that has been lost.) And because most data loss occurs due to simple human error, not large-scale incidents or outages, it’s important for each and every business to include data in business continuity plans.

But how should data be incorporated into the plan? Disaster Recovery Journal recently shared a few basic tips, which we’ll summarize here.

 

Backup:

First and most importantly, ensure that your data is backed up, either physically or virtually.

Recovery:

Consider colocating data on the cloud so that it can be recovered in the event of a loss. This limits downtime by allowing employees remote access.

Remote Data Movement:

Copy data to a location outside the primary physical location, or better yet, to the cloud. This will ensure that it remains safe through fire or natural disaster.

Storage System Security:

It’s important that your storage facility is accessible to employees. However, it’s vital to protect it from unauthorized users who may have bad intentions.

Test and Test Again:

Make sure all essential employees know the procedures for backup and recovery, and run drills to ensure that data can be easily recovered in the event of a loss.

 

From data backup and storage to cloud colocation, Vaultas can help your company prepare for disaster. Give Vaultas a call at 888-998-2858, or contact us online. With custom solutions to meet the most demanding IT needs, we’ll work with you to find the best solutions for your business.

The Internet of Things Ecosystem Continues to Grow

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Even if you’ve never heard of the Internet of Things, or IoT, it likely plays a big part in your everyday life. Do you wear a Fitbit? Do you use Alexa to manage your shopping and to-do lists? Is your home monitored from afar with a smart camera? If so, the Internet of Things ecosystem is probably fairly ingrained in your life.

Even if you’re fairly familiar with IoT, the different terms and labels can be confusing. We’ll break that down below, based on a helpful article from Business Insider. We’ll also look a little more closely at the IoT ecosystem and how that is projected to grow in the coming years.

What is the Internet of Things?

Simply, it is the connection of devices to the Internet. The IoT devices that we use everyday are defined as standalone, Internet-connected devices that can be monitored or controlled remotely. Common examples of IoT devices include fitness trackers, digital assistants, smart thermostats and medical devices. The number of available IoT devices has skyrocketed in recent years, and will probably continue to increase in the foreseeable future.

The IoT Ecosystem

The Internet of Things ecosystem is the sort of central hub of IoT – the components that allow businesses and consumers to connect to their IoT devices. This includes networks, gateways, data storage, security, dashboards and more.

IoT Layers

There are three layers that allow devices to connect through the ecosystem:

  • Physical layer: IoT device hardware
  • Network layer: Transmits data collected by physical layer to different devices
  • Application layer: Interfaces and protocols by which devices identify and communicate

The Future of the IoT Ecosystem

Business Insider predicts that 24 billion IoT devices will be connected to the internet by 2020, with businesses as the top adopter of IoT solutions. Governments will be the second-largest adopters. Consumers will adopt less quickly, but they will still invest a large amount of money into the IoT ecosystem. In sum, an estimated $6 trillion will be spent on IoT solutions between 2015 and 2020.

Ready to incorporate the Internet of Things ecosystem into your business?

Vaultas is here to help. Give Vaultas a call at 888-998-2858, or contact us online. With IT services to meet the most demanding needs, we’ll work with you to find the best custom IT solutions for your business.

 

header image c/o computerweekly.com