Top Three Priorities For Every Digital Business

There was a time in the not so distant past when the function of IT within an organisation was considered an operational formality rather than a driver of competitive advantage. Nowadays, technology is no stranger to the boardroom agenda. In fact, it’s a regular fixture as businesses go digital.

While the ways in which technology can help an organisation are almost infinite, there are three areas I see many businesses focusing on.

The first is ensuring business continuity. This can be viewed as ‘keeping the lights on’ but it’s more about providing a foundation that allows the business to operate as close to its maximum output as possible at all times.

The second is investing in cybersecurity – particularly to minimise the risk and impact of ransomware attacks. While linked to business continuity, there are longer-term impacts for organisations to consider such as reputational damage and a loss of customer confidence.

Finally, organisations need their data to be available at all times. The crucial distinction is that when we talk about ‘availability’, we are talking about data being accessible to the right people at the right time and in the right place, as well as being protected and recoverable at all times.

Business as usual

Veeam’s 2019 Cloud Data Management Report found that three-quarters of organisations are looking to adopt Cloud Data Management.

Two thirds of those surveyed cited stability as one of the key benefits they expected from an investment in technology. Four out of five said they needed to see an uptick in productivity.

This nicely summarises the role technology plays in ensuring business continuity. Stability is key for any organisation, especially during periods of uncertainty caused by factors the business has no control over.

Furthermore, as businesses look to transform digitally, they need a stable foundation on which to base the associated shift in working and cultural practices.

Cloud Data Management provides this foundation for business continuity, as well as giving businesses the means to use data more productively.

Securing corporate reputation

Any digital business that stores and uses data must be prepared to protect it against ongoing threats to cybersecurity such as ransomware.

This process is two-fold. The first is ensuring that the business is taking proactive steps to mitigate the impact of cyber-attacks and prevent them from spreading across the organisation.

Secondly, digital businesses have to ensure that they are in a position to recover immediately when an attack takes hold.

Restoring mission-critical apps and communication functions means the business can swiftly deal with the reputational damage that comes with a cyber-attack – keeping customer confidence intact.

Open all hours

The ability for businesses to recover mission-critical operations is important beyond protecting against the threat of a cybersecurity breach.

Veeam’s research found that almost three quarters (73%) of organisations are failing to meet users’ demands for uninterrupted access to applications and data.

Simply put, data needs to be available for business to leverage its full power.