Manufacturing companies are overhauling their operations and production to stay competitive in this new era of advanced technology.
If you haven’t been bombarded with “digital transformation” news then you’re not in the manufacturing industry. From robotics to improvements in sensors (Internet of Things) and robust ERP platforms, times are changing rapidly industry-wide.
According to Capgemini, 92 percent of successful manufacturing organizations have a clear digital strategy and also have a roadmap to monitor progress. As a part of your digital strategy and overall business model, you should include disaster planning. In today's digital world, that means data backups and security.
The High Risk of Unprotected Data
The prevalence of ransomware and other cyber attacks is very alarming. Businesses don’t just lose their important data, customer information, and money during a data breach. They lose their credibility and customer loyalty. The ramifications of being hacked run deep and will affect a manufacturing company for years to come.
Data Deserves a Worthy Backup Plan
Manufacturers are becoming more reliant on data. Benefits include predictive maintenance scheduling to keeping machines connected and running smoothly. Therefore, every company should implement a crisis strategy.
Often physical assets are top of mind when thinking about disaster planning, but it’s high time to consider your intangible assets as well — namely, your data.
Backing up data to a remote location is critical, so if your physical servers fail, your backups will remain safe. The cloud is where it's at for safeguarding your data.
Safeguarding Data with the Cloud
The traditional method of on-site backup is not sound protection against physical threats such as a fire, hurricane, tornado, flood, etc. It’s not enough to rely on these solutions, even having another off-site physical backup location isn’t disaster-proof… what if that backup location goes down as well? This is why utilizing the cloud can be the best option. Many manufacturers prefer a dual or hybrid approach, automatically backing up data to both a physical or off-site server and the cloud simultaneously.
It’s unpleasant to think about a crisis. Most executives and management put off disaster planning. This can unfortunately turn a nightmare into reality when least expected. Sometimes a whole city can do go down, from a hurricane or power outage.
If you and your colleagues are not able to access emails, important files, customer contacts, equipment codes, or the tools needed to get the job done… you will quickly bleed money.
Stay Competitive During Down Time
Manufacturing is a highly competitive industry. Relying on machines and people means downtime does happen. The key to remaining profitable and competitive is to keep your production line running at all times (and at all costs).
This is where backing up your data comes into play. Your production lines need to be automatically and redundantly backed up to offsite or cloud locations, to ensure your business’ continuity and ensure a sound disaster plan.
Also, don’t just set it and forget it — you need to have professionals monitoring and ensuring your data processes are secure, up-to-date, and running as expected. Treat your data like the valuable asset it truly is.
Data has become the new gold and is worth much more than you probably realize. An entire manufacturing company can crumble with one significant data breach or loss!
Partner with Emerge
Get ready for the digital frontier, keep ahead of the competition, and secure your data sooner than later. Emerge ITs Managed IT and Cloud Solutions combined with our manufacturing industry expertise make us the perfect partner for your factory's data and production needs.