In this modern-day and age, more and more businesses are already leveraging the advancements in modern technology to make their processes more efficient and seamless. This means that they need to start relying on the digital world of data storage and transmission rather than keeping paper copies of their documents. While this proves to be more convenient and environmentally friendly, you need to ensure that your data is complete, safe, and secure as well. This is because data loss may lead to unfortunate business disruption. In line with this, below are some of the ways how you will be able to prevent data loss in your small business.
Always backup
One of the primary things that you can do to prevent data loss is to conduct regular data backup. In this case, you can make use of a storage location that is independent of your network such as a cloud service solution. The top 5 cloud backup solutions include IDrive, BackBlaze, CrashPlan, Carbonite, and Acronis. What makes these solutions great is that aside from offering a data storage capacity, these also feature a disaster recovery option, ransomware protection, as well as enhanced server security. With these solutions, you will have a point where you can revert to as necessary to proceed with your business processes as usual in case of any event that may wipe out data from your primary server.
Dispose of sensitive data properly
Another way to prevent data loss is by disposing of your sensitive data properly. Even if you deem that this data is no longer needed, it can still fall in the wrong hands. Once it does, those with malicious intentions may use it to cause business disruption, and even wipe out the data on your servers. Thereby, make sure that you remove all sensitive information on the electronic devices that you are using in your business, particularly if the device needs to be passed on from one person to another.
Use strong password protection
Using strong password protection can also minimize the risk of data loss in your business. This is because in doing so, those with malicious intentions will have a hard time accessing important and sensitive business information. Without access, hackers will not have the capacity to wipe out the data in your servers or tamper with it. In this case, it is a good idea to remind your employees to change their passwords regularly and ensure that their passwords are complex enough so that hackers will not be able to easily guess it.
Implement access levels
Implementing access levels can also protect your business from data loss because with these levels, only authorized personnel will have access to sensitive information. With access levels, some of your employees may only be authorized to view data, while others may be allowed to make modifications. As such, access to your data is controlled and limited to those who need to work on it. This minimizes the risk of data loss because those with authority are often responsible enough to know how to handle your business data properly.
Invest in data protection software
Lastly, you can also invest in data protection software that will ensure that your business data doesn't fall into the wrong hands. While some of the cloud storage solutions already have this integrated with their service, there are those without it. In terms of the latter, you need to find a data protection software that will work well with your primary network and backup storage solution. There is also the option for you to use malware protection that will ensure that hackers using spyware or spreading viruses don't make it to your network because they can wipe out important data once they gain access to your system. Keep in mind that the spyware or viruses that these hackers use can be installed on your system without you being aware of their presence.
To wrap things up, make sure that you perform regular data backup so that you will have a point where you can revert to in case of any unforeseen circumstance that may wipe out your data from your primary storage. In case you need to dispose of any sensitive data, make sure that you do so properly. Alongside this, it will also help if you use strong password protection or even implement access levels to ensure that only your authorized personnel can read, write, or save your business data. Finally, invest in a data protection software too because all these are geared towards ensuring that data loss is prevented in your small business.
