When it comes to your company’s information, the question is no longer just how much you have, but where it lives and how it moves. From local PCs to shared cloud environments, every byte of data represents an asset that needs to be available, secure, and resilient.

At Beaming, we help businesses navigate the complexities of data management. To find the right fit for your organisation, there are four key areas you need to consider.

Location: Where does your data live?

The first step is deciding on the physical or virtual home for your records. Whether it is a customer database or internal transaction logs, the location dictates your level of control and the skills required to manage it.

• On-premise or Co-location: Keeping data in-house or in a dedicated data centre gives you full control but requires internal IT expertise or the support of a Managed Service Provider (MSP).
• Public or Hybrid Cloud: Many businesses opt for the scalability of the cloud, but you must consider where those servers are physically located. For many UK firms, keeping data in trusted UK data centres is vital for compliance and reducing latency.
• Resilience: Is one location enough? We always recommend a robust disaster recovery (DR) plan. This means having a replicated backup in a separate location so that a single event — such as a fire or a cyber attack — doesn’t take your business offline.

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Data Transfer: How does it get there?

Your storage is only as good as the connection you use to access it. If you are replicating large amounts of data to a remote data centre or the cloud, your WAN connection is the bottleneck.

• Bandwidth and Timing: Consider the volume of data you are moving. High-frequency backups can affect user traffic during the day, so scheduling or a dedicated high-capacity line might be necessary.

Fibre optic leased lines

• Direct Peering: To keep things moving quickly, it helps to use an ISP that peers directly with your data centre location.
• Security in Transit: Never send sensitive data over the open internet without protection. Whether it is a private network provided by your ISP or an end-to-end VPN tunnel, encryption in transit is a must to prevent ‘man-in-the-middle’ attacks.

Access and Permissions: Who needs it and how fast?

Not all data is created equal. Some files are needed every second, while others might sit untouched for years until an audit.

• Storage Tiering: Cloud providers often offer ‘hot’, ‘warm’, and ‘cold’ tiers. Choosing the right one balances cost with performance.
• Recovery Speed: Think about how quickly you would need to pull that data back in an emergency. On-premise and co-location setups often allow for faster data retrieval than certain low-cost cloud tiers.

Security: How do you keep it safe?

Security isn’t just about a strong password; it is about layers of protection that stay with the data wherever it goes.

• Encryption at Rest: Ensure your data is encrypted while it sits on the disk. This includes everything from full disk encryption to specific database protections.
• Access Control: Use the principle of least privilege. Only those who absolutely need access to certain datasets should have it. Combined with Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA), this significantly reduces the risk of unauthorised access.
• Data Loss Prevention (DLP): Use tools like SIEM (Security Information and Event Management) to monitor for unusual activity and prevent data from being leaked or lost.

Your data should be a tool for growth, not a source of stress. By ensuring it is stored securely, transferred over a reliable medium, and backed up with a clear recovery plan, you can focus on running your business with confidence.

If you are weighing up the options between cloud, hybrid, or co-location, we are here to help you find the most secure and efficient path forward.