With a rapidly expanding national client-base – not to mention a wealth of UK channel partners – the Vapour team has been discussing the new data protection legislation for some time.
But with the countdown gathering pace, and newfound business continuity pressures being placed on British firms, greater attention must now be paid to the data contained within emails, stresses Tim.
“With the imminent introduction of GDPR, organisations are thinking a lot more seriously about the capture, storage and processing of their data. But all too often, we’re hearing businesses talk solely about things from a security perspective,” he said.
“Yes, email robustness from hacks and other breaches is an important consideration here, but we need to think deeper about the subject. If a member of staff moves on to pastures new, all too often the employer deletes the account to free up a license and ensure a ‘belt and braces’ approach to security. But with account deletion comes the loss of potentially crucial GDPR-related consent evidence, not to mention often business-critical information trails. This oversight, when it comes to email backup strategies, therefore needs remedying – and quickly.”
The urgent call explains why one of the newest products to be added to Vapour’s suite is the Veeam backup solution for Office 365 users.
Following a period of rigorous testing, the tool is already being used by Vapour’s 31-strong organisation and – with a number of 365 partners within Vapour’s client base – it has been integrated into their offering as standard. But it is the more independent end-user client that now needs to think about their email backup strategy, emphasises Tim.
“Backups used to be complex, but advancements within the cloud tech market mean we’re now talking only £2.99 per user per month, for complete continuity and legislative peace of mind. The process is not only cost-effective but straightforward too – we simply spin up a server, interrogate the 365 licensing following a robust sign on procedure and take care of the backup within seconds.
“The world of business comms is changing – that’s why companies need to broaden their backup thinking, in 2018.”