Data Security and cloud ERP are often analyzed in conjunction as more and more companies consider moving to the cloud, and data breach becomes rampant. Cloud environments are run and managed by a team of highly capable experts in cybersecurity and data management, with a laundry list of failsafes and greater security than any local installation. But to many business owners, the idea of handing off their business data to a third-party cloud service can be frightening. Is your data safe in their hands? How reliable are their servers? These kinds of questions are important! Data leaks or corrupted storage can damage your business strategy, hurt your reputation, and affect your bottom line. Before you decide to double down on local data storage, take a step back and evaluate the security of your own servers.

Is Your Business Prepared to Handle an Attack? Here is an Example of a Company Who Learned It the Hard Way

A certain company, before migrating to Acumatica learned that having data stored on-premise does not guarantee immunity from data attacks. They stood helpless as the ransomware infection wiped out every bit of data on their servers.

The company had decided to invest heavily in on-premise equipment and storage (from an Acumatica competitor). Being able to physically see their servers was important to them, and it was nice to know their data was safe in its server room where only administrators could gain access. But at the end of the day they weren’t a company of data security experts and a lapse in judgment opened the doors for a massive attack.

Despite careful setting up and extensive training, they had forgotten to update their network security. Once attackers found out, they breached security, encrypted every file, and demanded a money ransom for the data. Desperate to regain control of their business data, the company was forced to pay up. But they were shocked to discover that the decrypted data the attackers had given them was corrupted and unusable! They’d been duped! With no hope of recovering their lost data, and their business down a large sum of ransom money, they could only rely on old backup data to get their company running again but found that they were worthless because nobody had bothered to test them before the attack!

The lesson this company learned was a very expensive one that crippled the business and severely damaged their reputation. They wanted absolute control of their data and opted to deploy their software within company grounds. Unfortunately, their IT department wasn’t ready to handle a sudden attack on their servers. A combination of poor security and the absence of a working backup had turned the data attack into a complete and utter disaster.

This company was able to get back and running after deciding to migrate all their on-premise data to the Acumatica Cloud ERP. It took a deep security breach for them to realize how important it is to have a full team of dedicated cyber security experts working all around the clock to keep their data safe and away from the hands of hackers. Acumatica specializes in network access and data security, and they can now operate with full confidence that their data is secure.

There’s overwhelming evidence that supports moving your business-crucial data to a cloud service, but there are two myths that still circulate on the Internet: (1) cloud services are overly expensive, and (2) on-premise servers are more secure.

Sure, cloud-based ERP software can be quite expensive. There’s the initial software price, the annual subscription, the cost of software upgrades, and the cost of hardware and software support and maintenance. However, the peace of mind you get from knowing that your data is instantly available any time of day, from anywhere in the world, and guarded by a team of cybersecurity professionals is well worth the price. It only takes a single attack to handicap your company and destroy its reputation.

On-premise storage can become a massive liability for your company. Most businesses are aware of the importance of keeping their data secure from external access, but grossly underestimate just how monumental a task it is. To give you a picture of how costly data security can be, JP Morgan Chase and Uber have all been victims of security breaches. JP Morgan Chase spends $250 million every year on data security and was still hit by an attack.

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