Smartphones and tablets are an essential part of the modern IT environment, allowing employees to access corporate systems and data, any place, any time. This enhanced mobility allows you to develop new, flexible ways of working, and delivering the service your customers demand.
But what happens if one of these mobile devices is lost or damaged? Is your data protected?
Enable Cloud backups
Whether you use iOS or Android devices, there are Cloud backup solutions built into the operating system. Once enabled, these devices will back themselves up to the Cloud every day, automatically.
In the event that the device is lost, the data is protected in the Cloud. You can download the data direct, or restore it to a new device, whichever is most convenient.
Unfortunately, Apple iCloud and Google Backup are geared towards consumers, so they do not offer the same level of control of a business-grade system, nor any guarantee of availability. Although they work, these platforms should not be the only form of backup you use to protect mobile devices.
Move to the Cloud wholesale
The other alternative is to move all of your corporate data and systems into the Cloud. When your system is hosted in Microsoft Azure for instance, everything is run from hosted datacentres outside your company network.
Like any Cloud system, Azure makes data and applications available to employees wherever they are, either at work or on the road. Most importantly, the data stored in these systems never leaves the Cloud – which means it is never actually stored on the mobile devices either.
If a smartphone or tablet are lost, the data is still stored securely in Microsoft’s datacentres. If the device is stolen, there is no risk of the thief recovering any sensitive data from it. And everything stored in the Azure platform is protected by an enterprise grade backup system, further reducing the risk of data loss.
Don’t forget to test your backups
One final piece of advice – your mobile backups must be tested regularly to ensure that they are accurate and usable. Otherwise you may find that in the event of a real data loss event, the backup is unusable, leaving you with no way to get that lost information back. To learn more about protecting your mobile assets, or using Microsoft Azure to prevent loss of data, please get in touch.