Australian IT executives should review their data protection service contracts and assess what isn’t covered, as information becomes more valuable and monetised.
Dell’s latest third Global Data Protection Index shows senior IT decision makers have started to realise the value of data, and the need for an effective data protection solution, as more important than ever.
The survey of 2,200 IT decision makers from public and private organisations across different regions shows Australian companies which lost an average of 1.65TB in the past 12 months, experienced associated costs of about US$791,000.
Dell said that in the past, companies would take take out an insurance policy for any expenses or liabilities resulting from a disruptive incident -- but in today's regulation and compliance heavy environment -- this is no longer a sufficient approach, as risk of customer data can now result in heavy financial penalties.
Dells research showed 51 per cent of respondents found the complexity of configuring and operating data protection software and hardware was a barrier for security success. Data protection risk grows as IT departments work with more vendors.
This risk was 50 per cent higher for Australian businesses when dealing with multiple data protection and security solutions providers, which requires more management, more processes to learn, more integration between different systems and more training for IT staff.
According to Dell the misconception in the market is, "data is safe because it’s in a public cloud and can easily be recovered. However if they are using an 'as-a-service' model, the assumption is the service provider is looking after their data".
While this was true up until a point, things such as corrupt data, human error or malware attacks were outside their remit. This lack of understanding around data protection means that 49 per cent of Australian businesses are classified as ‘adopters’, while only 5 per cent identify as a ‘leaders’.
A Dell spokesperson stated IT teams are struggling to manage constantly growing data sets while remaining compliant. As organisations continue to digital transform, these challenges will further intensify.
“With the technology landscape quickly evolving it can be hard to keep up with emerging technologies and the potential knock on impact to your IT infrastructure and data protection strategy,” they said.
“Despite the enormity of change, again, only 34 per cent of Australian respondents felt challenged by this.”
Dell said IT leaders knew that data protection strategies were evolving with the update of new technologies. Embedding data protection into the start of all future IT planning will become even more mission critical.
Join the CIO Australia group on LinkedIn. The group is open to CIOs, IT Directors, COOs, CTOs and senior IT managers.