Enterprise Communications Featured Article

The integration of mobile technology into enterprise communications has allowed organizations to be more efficient and productive. Using smart phones and tablets along with cloud technology is enabling anytime anywhere access to corporate resources so employees can collaborate with each other, partners and customers. This is creating large amounts of data that are being stored across devices, which requires organizations to have the right backup solutions in place to protect the data their employees are creating at all times.

Depending on the industry, companies have different requirements regarding how they must protect and backup the data they create. With so many compliance regulations in healthcare and finance, having a backup system that does not meet these standards can result in very expensive fines being levied by the government.

Unlike backing up network data which is an established platform with many products in the marketplace, with remote users or edge backup it is still relatively new. Corporations are having difficulty in centrally managing, searching, auditing and monitoring the data that exists at the edge. This information also has to be protected from the increasing security threats organizations face from the vulnerabilities mobile technology presents.

In choosing the right data backup and protection vendor, companies that have BYOD initiatives must ensure they provide end point backup and restore for tablets and smartphones, file sharing, eDiscovery, device management, governance, federated search, and global de-duplication.

The issue of security should be paramount by offering remote access anytime and anywhere with different options regarding how the data is protected on the device. With this access company IT should have the option to remotely wipe corporate data if the device is lost or stolen while maintaining the BYOD environment with clear separation between personal and corporate information.

Simplifying the process of data governance also protects the company when it is being audited or it is part of a suit. By making it easy to engage in e-discovery, the data can be quickly retrieved no matter where it is created and stored by the user. The ability to create policies, manage legal holds and provide data access is an essential component.

Above all else the service provider has to give administrators a platform that allows monitoring of users, devices, files, versions, and modification dates with an immediate overview and quick access to detailed reporting.