Big data has been the buzzword of the last few years and there seems to be no slowing of the trend towards businesses of all shapes and sizes using big data to improve their performance. Included herein are some insights as to how big data can successfully be used, and more importantly, why data protection is essential for your business to reap the benefits of big data while avoiding the pitfalls.
Big data is essentially the collection, storage, and analysis of huge amounts of electronic information. Defined by the five V’s of volume, velocity, veracity, variety, and value, big data has become one of the easiest ways to gain a competitive advantage in modern business.
Benefits of big data
Better analytics. Having access to a vast amount of historical company data allows for improved analytics on a scale unachievable without big data. Having sufficient information to analyze has proven to make a huge positive difference for business planning and strategizing.
Improves understanding of business opportunities, markets customers and clients, and as you build up the information so too does its value increase.
Improved operations. Being able to examine all your business operations in minutia as well as over the long term provides the basis to make significant changes in processes and systems to improve productivity and effective use of resources.
Yes, there are certain advantages of using big data and these have become more obvious over time, but the one that many seem to ignore until it’s too late is the need to improve data protection.
Need for increased data protection
The logic is clear, in that the more data you have stored away and the more value that this data gains the more likely it will be the target of malicious cybercriminals. A single cyber security event can cost your business hundreds of thousands and cause serious disruption to business continuity. Proofpoint provides some great reasons as to why your business should care about data protection, and the financial cost of any losses as mentioned above is definitely a major factor.
This means that your business must ensure that whoever holds or stores your data in the cloud follows accepted guidelines for data protection. The adherence to data protection policies and industry standards is the first step in protecting what has become known as the new gold.
Furthermore, those who access, use, and prepare such data for analysis must be well versed in current data protection methodologies and systems. Training and developing internal staff must form part and parcel of the use and implementation of a big data business strategy.
The key aspects of data protection must be to manage all security aspects of data storage and access while making sure that the data is available in real-time for those who need it to make business decisions.
The message is clear, if your business is going to use big data, then you also need to ensure that you have a professional approach to data protection from the outset or you will simply be putting all the data you gather at risk.
