Data drives business today and losing it can be disastrous. Yet there are so many data risks challenging your efforts. These tips to improve your data management can help.

Anyone can accidentally delete data. There are many other ways you might also lose business data:

• loss or theft of a USB drive or other portable device;
• hardware failure;
• a ransomware attack;
• a data breach.

Proper storage and protection of your data needs to be an ongoing, daily practice. You can’t just set up a process and trust that it works. Effective management of how and where you save your files can help you use data to boost your business.

Know what data you have

Data management begins with understanding what data your business generates. Identify what kind of data you collect to ensure you are effectively storing and securing it. This way, you’ll also be able to use data to identify opportunities and improve efficiency.

Have a process for storing data

Consistency matters. Establish strong storage practices to better manage the quintillion bytes of data your business generates daily.

You might develop a naming format using the YYYY-MM-DD system. Standardization is especially important if international clients use a different date system.

Create a folder for currently active projects and another for archiving dormant projects. This not only helps with clutter but can help streamline your data backup. Ongoing work can be backed up by the hour, whereas archived data might be checked to see if it’s changed every two weeks.

Follow best practices for securing data

Your business likely has firewalls in place to secure on-premises infrastructure, but data is increasingly mobile. Employees might move data on thumb drives or have it on their mobile phones or laptops. This isn’t safe from loss, damage, or theft without encryption, password protection, and data backup.

Consider using the cloud to store data. A solution such as Microsoft365 allows teams to access and collaborate on files online. At the same time, you don’t have to worry about having multiple versions of the same file. You also don't need to move data on portable devices. Your people can access the cloud data from wherever they are, on any device.

Make sure you are compliant

Data management regulations in your country may differ from countries where you do business. For example, if you sell to companies in Europe, you need to comply with its Global Data Privacy Regulations (GDPR). In the United States, rules can vary across states. Research data privacy and data protection regulations everywhere you operate.

Build in accountability for data management

Put someone in charge of data management. You need trained and experienced staff to manage data (compliant with privacy practices). The person or team responsible needs to know data quality and protection essentials.

Work with data management experts

As the volume of data grows, its management can get more complicated. Our experts have the skills to manage data and ensure the best data-handling practices.