The past year was exciting in terms of data recovery and in mobile devices. 2012 ushered in heightened security and convenience through the acceptance of growth and a few changes for the better. Many of my clients who were able to embrace cloud technology also learned about new and creative ways to incorporate BYOD (bring your own device) into their workplace.
Company managers like Warren Olivier of Veeam Software noticed this year marked the introduction of cloud technology in system administration and IT, marking 2012 as the year where the cloud is functioning as a continuous backup and working in conjunction with an employees’ personal or work owned mobile device. Many in SA (system administration) and in IT switched over to cloud solutions that incorporated BYOD and found that the daily practices of employees were not hindered in the least. IT managers and system administrators still maintained the updates and occasional upgrades of a cloud recovery program, but in a large part, the combination of cloud data recovery and BYOD simplified activities like project collaboration, sharing large files and accessing data from anywhere. Here are a few of the ways that cloud computing and BYOD software solutions have helped businesses that are large and small.
Sharing the Wealth
Media storage solutions have always been useful for freelancers; many photographers use Dropbox to share large files privately and have been known to use Facebook and Pinterest to share their work publicly. Free and affordable cloud solutions like these work great for the individual who have a shoestring budget to work with, but if you have a little more wiggle room for spending and more data to backup, it’s a smart idea to use a dedicated cloud storage system like Mozy data backup. For only $9.99 you can store up to 125 gigabytes of data in their cloud data center. Many clients thought their free solutions worked well enough until they needed to speak to a customer support representative, because they were having trouble retrieving data during a power outage and they found out very quickly that working with a company that offers 24/7/365 customer support was worth the money.
Prevention of Data Loss
According to an infographic and article by Kristin Dziadul on Backupify’s blog, the revolution of BYOD along with cloud storage solutions is allowing more data to be saved and less instances of storage issues. However, the article also shows that 63 percent of the data lost is caused by mistakes made by the user, rather than an error of the cloud storage system or fault of the computer. What is causing the loss of data?
Rob May of Wired magazine believes it comes down to the user’s lack of familiarity with the device. His data loss solution is two-fold; companies that wish to keep their loss of data to a minimum can utilize SaaS (or Software as a Service) solutions and the employees should be permitted to access the mobile versions of these SaaS programs on their personal devices that they are familiar with operating. Most SaaS or on-demand software solutions include useful programs like a CRM (customer relationship manager) and ERP (enterprise resource planning) tools that are often available as part of a mobile app that can be uploaded to Android, iPad and iPhone devices. Allowing employees to utilize technology that feels familiar to them, and permitting them to work with solutions that are practical is moving business and technology into a place where users can feel comfortable and when that happens, chances for data loss can possibly be reduced.
Nothing is fool proof though. While embracing cloud technology and BYOD practices in the workplace is making project collaboration more accessible and minimizing data loss, the tech world is ever changing and introducing even more efficient trends to help integrate mobile device with data storage solutions. David Snow’s recent article in Enterprise CIO Forum’s blog says the BYOD culture is now evolving into the already approved COPE (corporate owned personally enabled) trend and could evolve further into the CYOD (choose your own device) trend. Snow believes COPE takes all of the great aspects of BYOD and puts them into a practical workable framework.
