Christina Walker

According to Cybercrime Magazine, by 2025 there will be over 200 zettabytes of data in cloud storage worldwide, up from 4.4 ZB in 2019 and 44 ZB in 2020. This global explosion of corporate data, both in the cloud and on-premises, can provide new revenue streams for channel partners.

Indeed, channel partners with data classification knowledge and expertise who understand not only the management of enterprise data but also its role in business intelligence, business continuity, disaster recovery, and security, are well positioned to unlock new business opportunities. Expand your possibilities. By offering a wide range of data classification services, the partner enables the customer to take advantage of public cloud consumption-based pricing and better manage his IT costs through better optimization and more strategic storage planning. We can help.

In 2006, British mathematician Clive Hamby said, “Data is the new oil.” The phrase is more important today than ever, as data powers operations across organizations (and industries). But like oil, data must be refined to become valuable. This is where data classification best practices come into play. One of the most important steps companies can take from a data management perspective is prioritizing data classification, the process of classifying data. For storage, classification and retrieval purposes for future use.

Data classification is a rich area of ​​opportunity for the channel, but it requires a deep understanding of the customer’s industry-specific requirements, workflows, and IT operations, which partners can address through consulting and technical integration.

Classification best practices

Data classification best practices should first validate data that should be included in classification and access definitions based on industry or country-specific regulations, standards, and compliance obligations, including GDPR, PCI-DSS, CCPA, etc. there is.

Once the key issues of regulatory compliance are resolved, companies can move to the “basics” of data classification with partner consultation and support in five areas:

• identification Define sensitive and critical data.
• Discover Where is your data and who has access to it?
• classification Define data and assign classification levels based on its value to the customer’s organization.
• Alignment Appropriate security controls and measures to ensure integrity.
• monitoring Periodically as a component of security controls for data management best practices.

Building a successful data classification service

Enterprises have many competing priorities, but partners can play a key role in increasing the importance of data classification. This can become a problem if not maintained regularly.

Channel partners and service providers looking to offer a data classification program can not only help develop processes that support today’s agile and mobile work ecosystems, but also provide value-added packages that combine education, guidance and advice. should take precedence.

Partners should also educate their customers about the consequences of poorly executed programs.

An effective data classification program should include four components:

• advise Customers need to be proactive and standardize their processes early on so they don’t end up in a situation later in which resources are wasted in firefighting or extra spending that jeopardizes their business.
• encourage Enterprise customers should engage all key stakeholders to provide a roadmap for how data should be classified and managed, and policies that govern process ownership, enforcement, and accountability (if none exist) should be identified and assisted in creation.
• use The latest and greatest technology to help companies comply with internal policies and automate processes as much as possible. This is where Requests for Proposals (RFPs) and Proof of Concepts (POCs) come in and require additional resources.
• educate Customers are concerned about avoiding redundant, obsolete, trivial (ROT) or unclassified data accumulating indefinitely. Not only does ROT data take up valuable server space and increase associated energy costs, it also threatens a company’s security posture and contributes to the negative environmental impact of cyber waste.

Channel partners and service providers struggle to keep up with the sheer volume of data they collect every day, so it’s a great opportunity to extend their offerings to serve their customers.

The ability for companies to derive more value from their information through data mining and analysis is essential to making strategic business decisions, making data classification best practices even more important. Service providers not only help provide customers with easy access to critical data, but also become trusted partners for managing and mitigating risk in an increasingly complex data and privacy regulatory environment. You can also

Christina Walker is the Global Director of Channel Sales and Programs. SwingShe will manage Blancco’s channel sales team and overall partner strategy, evolving the program to support the needs of its growing active partner list.follow her LinkedIn company with @Blanco Tech on Twitter.