Whether you’re offering customers resources or simply storing consumer data, the reputation of your company is affected by your ability to quickly and reliably deliver those resources, 24/7, while maintaining the security of sensitive information. For most companies, choosing a datacenter is the best option to meet this need. The efforts needed to maintain the kind of secure and consistent access a datacenter provides are out of reach for most businesses, so selecting an appropriate datacenter site is an important step for company growth and customer satisfaction. It’s important to note, however, that not all datacenters are created equal, and it takes some research to find one that’s the best fit for your needs.
The Importance of Datacenter Site Selection
When choosing a datacenter site, there are several factors you need to consider:
- What are your company’s needs?
- Where is the datacenter located?
- From where does the datacenter source its power?
- What security efforts are in place?
- What is the design of the network infrastructure?
- How scalable and flexible is the datacenter?
- What emergency backup protocols are in place?
- What is the datacenter’s reputation?
Each of these components must be researched, in detail, to ensure the datacenter you select is a good match for your business. If the location you choose is lacking in any of these areas, you may be putting your own reputation on the line for events beyond your control. The time it takes to find a solid datacenter is time you should be using to build your business and handle daily operations. This is where the EIRE Systems IT support team steps in, offering risk assessment services that include guidance on your datacenter site selection for your Singapore-based business.
How EIRE Systems Can Help
As part of our risk assessment service, our Singapore IT support team will help you identify a datacenter that can handle your data needs with the security and reliability your customers and employees demand. Whether this is the first time you’ve encountered the need for a datacenter or you’re looking to make a switch from your current one, we can help you with site selection so you can move forward with confidence.
What Are Your Data Storage and Delivery Needs?
One of the most important factors of your selection is finding a datacenter that meets the unique needs of your company. This is not limited to your current demands but must consider the future growth of your company and the projected data storage and delivery requirements that come with it. The scalability of a datacenter can be an important factor if you expect the data needs of your company to grow. Choosing a solid datacenter that you may outgrow over time can put your business in a vulnerable position when the time comes to move your operations to a larger facility. Ideally, you want a datacenter that is capable of keeping up with your future needs. Our Singapore IT support group will help you determine the current and future needs of your business to ensure your datacenter can handle your data demands and has the ability to meet anticipated growth.
Datacenter Reliability
For a datacenter to perform well, it must be able to deliver information consistently and should experience minimal downtime. The location of the datacenter can play a large role in these efforts. Choosing a datacenter in an area prone to natural disasters, such as coastal locations that experience hurricanes or along earthquake fault lines, puts you at risk of losing connectivity if the datacenter experiences damage. Depending on the extent of damage to the facility, there is also the risk of losing the data itself.
The datacenter’s power source is another factor that must be considered. Power loss affects the ability to transfer data, so you want a facility that has a reliable power source and backup plans in place should that power source fail. Even the site’s cooling systems should be considered, as the maintenance and transfer of large amounts of data generate considerable amounts of heat. If the facility doesn’t have effective cooling systems in place, the need for a cool-down period will create downtime.
When working with our IT support team in Singapore, risk assessment includes finding an appropriate datacenter that operates from a consistent, sustainable power source and ensuring there are redundancy systems in place to prevent loss of power or connectivity.
Data Security
Choosing to store your data at an off-site location requires that you trust the facility to keep your sensitive information secure. In fact, since much of the information a datacenter stores comes from consumers, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has published Technology Risk Management (TRM) guidelines that establish industry best practices for all Singapore financial institutions. Though these guidelines are not legally binding, they are used as a benchmark for risk assessment. The TRM guidelines cover encryption levels and data access management, guided by the principle of “least privilege,” which ensures access is only granted to those who need it to fulfill their job duties.
Along with the TRM guidelines, the MAS also mandates that a Threat and Vulnerability Risk Assessment (TVRA) must be performed annually on any datacenter charged with handling and hosting data from a Singapore-based financial institution. The TVRA ensures a datacenter is meeting its responsibilities to keep safe the sensitive data of financial institutions and their customers. This assessment measures the physical security of the facility and the steps taken to protect the datacenter from cyber-attacks.
When working with EIRE Systems’ Singapore IT support regarding your company’s risk assessment, we recognize that the security of your data is only as strong as the security of the facility hired to store and transfer that data. We can help guide you in your datacenter site selection to ensure the facility you choose meets the TRM guidelines set by MAS and scores high on the TVRA, putting your data security on par with the strict industry standards that govern Singapore financial institutions.
Let EIRE Systems Risk Assessment IT Support Do the Heavy Lifting
Choosing a reliable and secure datacenter site has the kind of impact that can make or break any business that works with large amounts of data. Consumers want unfettered access to what they need, and every break in that access is a potential customer lost. With the sensitive nature of much of the data being shared, security is of critical importance as well. A data breach can cost a business time, clients and brand reputation, all things that are not easily regained. To prevent these negative impacts without sacrificing the extensive time needed to find a strong datacenter match, let the EIRE Systems Singapore IT support group handle the risk assessment for your company and help you with your datacenter site selection. We have the knowledge to pair you with a datacenter that meets the reliability and security standards your customers deserve.
