Quick question. If I were to ask you, on the spot, to tell me where all of your company data is, right this moment, could you tell me with absolute confidence? What if I could prove you wrong?
Most business owners will probably say that their data is stored on their main server at the office, or a server hosted with their cloud provider, or that their data is stored in OneDrive or Google Drive.
Others might also add that their data is also stored on a backup device, and that backup device stores a copy of everything in the cloud. Very well done, for those who answer like that.
I’m not here to prove anyone wrong. If you made these big investments into your business to safely store and protect your data, then that is where the data should be. That said, the problem usually isn’t with the one writing the paychecks…
Your Employees Aren’t Focused on Data Security
This isn’t to put your employees down. They have jobs to focus on, quotas to meet, projects to deal with, and everyday tasks to perform. Thinking about your IT is the last thing on their minds. To them, the computer, the network, and the servers are all things that exist in the background and sometimes get in the way of their jobs when something doesn’t work right.
With that in mind, if a salesperson needs to get access to a proposal she has been working on, and she has no way to access the network when on the road (or she just wasn’t trained to use the proper way to access the network when on the road) then she will try to come up with the solution herself. She’ll email herself the file or stick it on a thumb drive or on her laptop and suddenly, that document is no longer protected by your network. Changes to the document are no longer backed up. In one swift move, a piece of data is no longer within your control.
Sure, a sales proposal might not contain a whole lot of trade secrets or sensitive information, but you can see how easy it is for someone with good intentions to botch up the whole system.
This salesperson doesn’t deserve to lose their job over what they did (although they probably should be corrected), but the fault lies with management. If your employees aren’t given the ability to perform their jobs as needed, they may find their own way. They’ll think they are going above and beyond, and they really are. Unfortunately, they aren’t as in touch with IT and cybersecurity and compliance standards and everything else you are likely worried about.
This is Even More Important Now
Let’s ask that question again, especially for industries where many users are working remotely. Where is your data? Do you have it under control? Are you providing your users a way to access everything without putting it at risk?
We can help you audit your existing IT environment and take into consideration that users are accessing things remotely, and help you lock down your data. To talk more about this, give us a call at (270) 282-4926.
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