High-level data breaches happen more often than you might think. Just this past weekend, Marriott Hotels suffered an information breach, exposing the personal information of over 500 million guests. These events can be catastrophic to your business, leading to strained relationships with your customers, major losses in revenue and a decrease in production.
Unfortunately, asset-intensive companies are not exempt from these issues. Many companies that are digitizing their processes around EAM and CMMS systems are susceptible to security risks. A large part of the problem is due to data stored on-premise, rather than in a cloud-based solution. Fortunately, there are measures that you can take to prevent it from happening to you or to catch it early if it does.
Consider the Cloud:
Information management standards and procedures are only as strong as their weakest link. Investing significantly in additional software, hardware and specialized staff are usually needed to increase security measures, which can put a strain on your budget. Good security requires constantly updating infrastructure, certifications, audits and training. All of this adds to the expense.
The easiest way to solve this problem is with a cloud-based solution where the cloud provider is responsible for many of these costs which are spread across a large customer base. They also specialize in security.
Cloud providers often have better encryption, frequent data sweeps and more preventative measures in place including certifications, audits and training for employees. Furthermore, many security processes are automated and standardized, reducing human error. It also lowers costs significantly because these costs are shared across the customer base.
Remain Vigilant:
Most companies now have procedures in place to handle or prevent data breaches, but proactive action is still required to stay ahead of the game. Being vigilant when using your data for operations is important. Most data breaches result from simple human errors. Make sure your team respects the rules with respect to passwords and is trained on the most common security risks. In the asset-intensive space, the use of spreadsheets and email to share data is inherently risky. Consider using secure cloud services like Dropbox to share data and make sure it is removed at the end of projects.
Conduct a Threat Assessment:
Even with a cloud-based solution, there is no guarantee that your business will be completely exempt from an attack. While choosing to outsource the security of your data makes it safer, there are still potential risks within your company that you may not even be aware of. Educating your employees on best practices for information management, password management and simple actions they can take to prevent data mismanagement can go a long way.
If your budget allows it, get a third-party perspective on what you can do internally. Hiring a cybersecurity consultant can help you realize problems that may have gone unnoticed. This is especially recommended if your business is asset intensive; the more data you have, the more likely is that someone will want to breach it.
How We Can Help:
NRX Asset Hub is a cloud-based solution hosted on Amazon AWS that helps asset-intensive companies to cleanse, optimize and migrate their data. Our software integrates with leading EAM systems such as SAP and Maximo to promote efficiency and productivity. We help get our client’s data right. If you would like to know more about how we can help get your data on the cloud, book a demo or contact us.
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