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Natural disasters: Is your business data secure?


gravity-software-cloud-based-accounting-natrual-disasters-is-your-business-data-secureConcerned about keeping your key business data safe, intact and reliable? If you’re still storing it on-premise, maybe you should be worried about your accounting data security.

One 2019 survey of U.S. businesses found that 96% had experienced a system outage, while 95% had experienced at least one brownout. That kind of frequency could be hugely problematic for businesses that have dragged their feet about moving to the cloud, and the survey indicates a surprising number have yet to convert.Accounting Today stated that only 58% of large businesses were using some type of cloud-based accounting software, indicating many aren’t fully equipped when it comes to their accounting and natural disasters. 

Besides security some of the advantages on being in the cloud are not being dependent on hardware that can fail and often requires constant management. Something as backing up your data and securing the backups can require many manual steps that can be easily missed or forgotten. 

“Data loss and downtime continue to plague organizations of all sizes,” report the authors of the 2019 study. “At the same time the cloud is playing an increasing role in data protection, with a majority of organizations now using the cloud as a critical part of their data protection strategy. Increased adoption should lead to lower costs, improved services, and more vendors offering cloud products.”

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There’s no disputing that the cloud is a better place to be when you’re tasked with bringing data systems back up to speed following a disaster — and that’s true whether the event involves a weather catastrophe, a device failure, a cyberattack or simple human error.

Cloud strategy

State-of-the-art network infrastructure makes sure errors or issues are immediately addressed by your cloud provider, which also ensures 24/7 support, maintenance and upgrades of your cloud data. That quick response eliminates or limits downtime, so you won’t incur significant financial losses.

The cloud can provide redundancy across multiple data centers, such that there can be no single point of failure. Automated recovery ensures that if one piece of hardware, internet connection, power or even the whole data center fails you are not effected. “My own data recovery plan is pretty simple: We have everything … in the cloud,” writes CPA Dawn Brolin. “This means that if my physical office is wiped out, I can go to a safe — preferably tropical — location with Internet access. My practice will not skip a beat. Anything beyond my client documents and personnel information that was in the office can be replaced with a business interruption insurance claim.”

According to Forbes, "In today’s world, by not moving to the cloud, you run the risk of falling behind your competition and losing your competitive edge. With a strong cloud strategy, you can create a sustainable road map for growth and future-proof your business."

Reduce risks

Natural disasters can have serious consequences for businesses in more ways than one.  Cloud-based applications are more advantageous as they can provide greater security protection, better collaboration, innovative business intelligence and more.

For example, when you trust your business financials to cloud-based accounting Gravity Software®, your data is subject to some of the best security controls available. Built from the ground up on cloud-based Microsoft Power Platform (aka Dynamics 365) , Gravity is managed by Microsoft in the Azure data center, with a guaranteed 99.999% up-time with military grade security.

The Power Platform serves as a central repository for all your business data. By default, powered by Microsoft, Gravity's cloud-based accounting software end users have less risk of service interruptions, less risk of data center intrusions or viruses. Microsoft’s Azure data centers are monitored 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, they provide more reliability than most companies can afford to do on their own.

Gravity's comprehensive solution offers full role-based security, allowing you to define exactly which users can access different elements of your company’s financial information down to field attribute level. Working remotely is not a problem with the proper security measures in place. Employees can collaborate from anywhere, at any time.

Together with the Power Platform, Gravity Software can provide you excellent levels of protection when it comes to both general security and when natural disasters strike. Learn more and schedule your online demo today.

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This article was originally published in March 2020 and has been updated and edited for clarity.