Data protection and compliance: Swiss companies still have some catching up to do
Data has long been set as the most important digital asset of companies. But at the majority of Swiss companies, daily data management can still be significantly improved, according to a new study by Veritas Technologies, a leading provider of enterprise data protection.
Companies that handle customer data are under particular scrutiny today: global headlines about data protection breaches are not abating, and stricter data compliance regulations are being introduced around the world. The Swiss Data Protection Act is also under revision. It is therefore more important than ever for companies to have structured risk management in place to secure data and gain necessary insights to drive the business.
Need to catch up on data compliance
The new study by Vanson Bourne on behalf of Veritas shows that IT decision-makers and data managers still see room for improvement in some areas, such as ensuring data compliance (73 percent) and data security and risk (79 percent). In addition, 85 percent of the interviewees stated that there is still room for improvement in terms of data transparency and control, while another 73 percent complained about the processes for recovering data after loss or a ransomware attack. Only 17 percent believe their company is effectively using data to drive the business forward.
The survey also shows that in Switzerland, only 18 percent of IT professionals believe that employees from different functions already have seamless access to corporate data and that it can be transferred across different departments. Two-thirds (66 percent) of respondents think their company could still improve data sharing across divisions.
The challenge of data overload
According to the interviewees, the following factors make data management in their company particularly difficult:
- Data management costs are rising (51 percent).
- Too many different tools and systems are used to be effective (40 percent).
- The skills and/or technology to fully leverage the value of data are lacking (36 percent).
- There are too many data sources to get an overview of (34 percent).
- Data cannot be reliably backed up and restored (23 percent).
- There is no central strategy or approach to data management (20 percent).
In contrast, only 3 percent of IT professionals said their companies face no data management challenges.
"The exponential growth of unstructured data has led to organizations storing information in many different environments. On average, 35 percent of it is in the cloud, and 54 percent of the data is stored on-premises," said Thomas Benz, Country Manager Switzerland and Austria at Veritas Technologies. "The more isolated and extensive the data becomes, the more difficult it is to find it, manage it, access it and secure it. Then companies face a big challenge."
"We live in a time when effective data management can drive digitization in companies, open up new business models and reduce costs through automation. Equally, however, it can bring companies to their knees if it is lacking. That's why they should invest in simplifying data management, removing complex processes to create a solid foundation - not only to protect themselves from cybercriminals or comply with data regulations, but also to pave the way for innovation and success in today's digital economy."
For more information on managing and securing your data, see www.veritas.com.
