Tag Archives: Data

VAST Data Expands into the APJ Region with Singapore Headquarters


VAST Data has launched its regional headquarters in Singapore, marking its entry into the Asia Pacific and Japan (APJ) region. This expansion follows a significant US$118 million Series E funding round, propelling its valuation to US$9.1 billion. Founded in 2016 and officially launched in 2019, the company’s unique architecture unifies unstructured and structured data into a single system, revolutionizing data storage and processing.

VAST Data

Renen Hallak, co-founder, and CEO of VAST Data, underscores the importance of data in today’s digital landscape. “Data is the backbone of the digital economy, yet much of it remains untapped. With the VAST Data Platform, organizations can make real-time, data-driven decisions.”

Singapore is an ideal base for the company’s APJ (Asia Pacific and Japan) operations, boasting a robust data centre ecosystem and strategic location. Sunil Chavan, Vice-President of VAST Data for Asia Pacific and Japan, highlights Singapore’s pivotal role in the company’s expansion. “Singapore’s pro-business environment and tech hub status make it the perfect launchpad for our regional operations.”

Partnering with local cloud providers, the company aims to revolutionize industries across the region. Agoda, the digital travel platform, has become the company’s first client embracing VAST Data’s innovative solutions to drive business growth.

Digi’s Juara Internet Malaysiaku Offers Free Phones, Extra Internet, and Rebates in Conjunction with National Day and Malaysia Day 

It is August, for Malaysia that means it is the month leading to the National Day and Malaysia Day. It means we get two extra holidays for the month of August and September. But it is also a celebration of what of Malaysia and all that is Malaysian. 

Digi, one of the biggest homegrown telcos celebrates the month of August and September the only way it knows how; giving more good deals. In anticipation of National Day and Malaysia Day, Digi launches the Juara Internet Malaysiaku promotion. Of course, since it is also a promotion for Malaysia Day, it lasts through August and September 2022.  

Starting from today new and existing Digi customers are entitled to free devices when they sign up for a new internet plan. If you sign up for a new Digi Postpaid Family Unlimited plan, you get a new Samsung Galaxy Tab A7 Lite for free. With the Pakej PowerJimat postpaid plans, you are entitled to a number of free Samsung, Redmi, vivo, and OPPO smartphones.  

If you are thinking of getting a new home internet plan from Digi, there is no better time than now to get it. New customers to the Digi Fibre 190 plan and above are entitled to rebates totalling up to MYR 240. Current Digi customers are entitled to up to MYR 60 a month in savings when they pair their postpaid plans to select Digi Fibre plans.  

Postpaid customers are entitled to enjoy 10GB more data for 12 months if you switch or upgrade to Digi Postpaid 40, 60, and 90 plans. If you go for the 120 or 150 plans, you get 50% more quota than what is offered on the brochure. Customers who are on Digi Postpaid 90 programs and above also get to enjoy up to MYR 15 of additional rebate every month for the next 12 months. You are also entitled to a Gadget SIM free for two months so that you can share your internet plans with your other devices via a second line for the promotion period. A Gadget SIM usually sets you back MYR 10 a month. Postpaid customers are also entitled to an MYR 200 GadgetFreedom Plus voucher within the MyDigi app. The voucher can be used to purchase anything from Digi’s official online store on Shopee Mall.  

Of course, prepaid customers are not fogotten. New customers to the Prepaid NEXT 35, NEXT 45, Raja Kombo 35, and Raja Kombo 45 plans gets 65GB of additional high-speed video quota for 30 days so that they can enjoy contents from Netflix, Viu, Astro Go, and YouTube without worrying about running out of data. Loyalty pays here, current prepaid customers get an additional 130GB of high-speed streaming quota with any 30-day Internet plan purchase via MyDigi Box of Surprise. Digi’s Unlimited Video Pass is also now extended to all Digi Prepaid customers. From MYR 5 onward you get to enjoy unlimited streaming from Netflix, Astro GO, Viu, Dailymotion, or Unifi PlayTV for three days.  

The Juara Internet Malaysiaku promotion starts today onward (1st of August 2022) until the 30th September 2022. You can find out or sign up for these attractive offers by visiting any Digi Store, Digi Store Expess, Digi authorised dealer, or their website.  

Even More EPYC with AMD – Stacking Zen 3

Just when we thought AMD is done with being the best at gaming, they proved that one title is never enough. They want to retain their title as the most powerful ever, with a full-stop right after. So, they went ahead and introduced what seems to be the most powerful processing chips in the world, the EPYC 7003 series server processors.

The new EPYC 7003 series is the third-generation server processors by AMD. That also means that it gets the Zen 3 architecture that the AMD Ryzen 5000 series line-up got. That same architecture also means that AMD’s processing core clusters gets to access all of the available cache memory module when necessary, instead of just half of it. Again, if you were doing some research with AMD’s latest Ryzen 5000 with Zen 3 architecture, it might sound like something simple and small. The results are quite significant though.

At least in terms of a server, Zen 3 architecture also allows the cores to process more data at any single time than before. In practical terms, that also means a much faster processor compared to before. Of course, AMD’s implementation also means more efficient power consumption.

The headline figures for EPYC’s flagship is up to 64 cores and 128 threads. With 64 cores, the processor features 256MB of cache, that is the first indication that this is not your regular consumer gaming PC stuff. All cores are clocked at 2.45GHz and can be boosted up to 3.675GHz when necessary.

Of course, these chips are also embedded with extra security measurements and algorithms. In a server, data center, cloud seservice, and virtualisation environment, protecting your data is of utmost importance. Security, in this case, has to start from the processors itself with AMD’s own Infinity Guard suite encryption technologies to keep everything it processes secure.

Of course, you are not going to see the AMD EPYC processors out on the street. These are highly specialised processors made for Artificial Intelligence implementation, data centers, and data backbones for larger organisations. These are the stuff that keeps thigs like Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, and Amazon Web Services running for you.

The AMD EPYC processors range from 32 cores to 64 cores. The EPYC processors are usually the base for AMD’s Ryzen Threadripper platforms. There are obviously no announcements made yet on the availability of the prosumer processor platforms at this time. If they are launching a Threadripper soon though, the AMD EPYC processors could probably give you an insight to what you can expect.

YES x Shopee DATABACK – Like Cashback, but for Data

Just one week after YES of YTL Communications introduces the most affordable mobile data plan ever, they are back. This time, they are back with Shopee in hand. Why? They are launching another thing of course. They are launching their new DATABACK program, in collaboration with Shopee.

What is DATABACK? It is like Cashback, but not cashback. You do not get cash rebates when you shop. Instead, you get data to rebate when you shop. They say, giving data back makes sense. This is because you need data and internet to buy things online anyway. So, giving data back to customers allows the customers to stay online longer and spend more money. As far as they can tell, it is a win-win situation.

The exclusive partnership between YES and Shopee, as part of the Kasi Up plan, applies to all YES customers on the Kasi Up plan, which should be all of them by now. If you have not gotten your YES SIM card for the Kasi Up plan yet, you might want to get it on Shopee for MYR 1. MYR 1 on Shopee buys you the SIM card together with a 30-day validity period. On top of that, you get YES Kasi Up Prepaid 15 plan which gives you 10/GB of data for the next 30-days once you activate your card.

The YES DATABACK programme is exclusively for YES users. The program allows users to earn back their data as they spend on Shopee. For every MYR 50 you spend on Shopee, YES gives you back 5GB of data. You can get back up to 100GB of data in a month. You will have to spend up to MYR 1,000 a month to get back 100GB though. That also means that you can buy a smartphone on Shopee and all your data problems for that month is solved.

The YES DATABACK initiative is exclusively valid on Shopee for now. The YES kasi Up SIM card is also now available on Shopee for as low as MYR 1. You can also top up your YES Prepaid account with Shopee, of course. For more information on the YES DATABACK programme exclusively on Shopee, you can head to Shopee’s microsite. Of course, you can head to YES’ website for more information on Kasi Up plans as well.

Just Say YES, You Really Have to with YES’ Kasi Up Mobile Data Plans

How much do you pay for data? That is the question that you often do not ask yourself in this difficult period. It is also something we take for granted these days. In fact, we have taken this for granted for a while. You never really thought about it also because Malaysia’s major Telco players have not made a huge step in terms of competitive pricing over data. That is, until now.

To be fair, when you talk about a major Telco for Malaysia, you would not start at YES 4G. You might not even consider this plucky organisation to be a major Telco in Malaysia. To blow your bubble a little bit, we can safely say that they are now a major Telco in Malaysia. They have one of the widest, if not the widest 4G network coverage in Malaysia. This includes Sabah and Sarawak, mind you.

Back to the price of data. If you do a little bit of research in and around the region of South East Asia, Malaysia’s data price point is not exactly the most affordable. You have players in Indonesia, and even Singapore that would offer data at much cheaper price points. Malaysia still has competitive pricing on data though, do not get us wrong.

It could be even more affordable though, and YES, with the Kasi Up plans, show that it is completely possible. They have introduced two new mobile data plans with Kasi Up, one Prepaid and one Postpaid. Both are, in our books, extremely attractive in value.

Kasi Up Prepaid

Source: YES

We start with the prepaid Kasi Up plan. The YES Kasi Up Prepaid 15 plan, they call it. As the numbers suggest, it will cost you MYR 15 for a 30-day validity. To be fair, that does not actually sound all that special. MYR 15 though buys you 10GB of data for that 30 days of validity though. This pricing is quite unheard of in Malaysia. Before this, YES’ most affordable data plan was MYR 30 for up to 10GB of data. Of course, for prepaid plans, calls are charged normally (MYR 0.09/call) on your valid airtime.

Kasi Up Postpaid

Source: YES

If you want to make calls for free though, you go for a YES Kasi Up Postpaid 49 plan. As the name suggests also, the plan will cost you MYR 49 a month. For just below MYR 50, you get 100GB of 4G data a month and free unlimited call time. This also means that your data effectively costs less than MYR 0.50 for every 1GB. What’s more, you get to have your bill free for the first 6 months if you sign up for a 24-month plan. This is also effectively the cheapest data plan available in Malaysia currently.

Additional Plans

Of course, the YES Kasi Up mobile plans are not limited to just those two plans. For prepaid customers, you can choose between three available plans. You know the YES Kasi Up Prepaid 15 data plan. There is a YES Kasi Up Prepaid 20 plan too for MYR 20 a month. You get 20GB of data a month for MYR 20. Then you can go for YES Kasi Up Prepaid Unlimited for MYR 30 month which qualifies you for unlimited mobile data capped at 7mbps and 9GB of uncapped speed hotspot data. This also makes the YES Prepaid Unlimited data plan the most affordable of its kind in Malaysia.

For Postpaid customers, the YES Kasi Up Postpaid 49 data plan is the most premium available from YES. You can go for something cheaper at MYR 30 for the YES Kasi Up Postpaid 30. You only get a data quota of 20GB a month though, on top of a free YES 4G smartphone.

Kasi Up Refer & Earn

Source: YES

YES also introduced a new way of earning a little bit of side income for Malaysians with YES Kasi Up Refer & Earn programme. You get up to MYR 50 cash for every referral you make when you get your friends to sign up for the YES Kasi Up data plan. Your friend also makes MYR 50, if they sign up. It really looks like a win-win situation.

Availability

There is some caveat in all this though. YES relies completely on their own 4G network with no 3G or 2G coverage. That also means that if you do lose your 4G coverage, you lose coverage. YES has continuously worked to improve network coverage in all major cities in Malaysia and even rural areas in Malaysia, enabling connectivity across the nation though. The introduction of the Kasi Up data plans will also bring an end to all their previous data plans. Current users would be transitioned to their new Kasi Up plan. Why would you not want to be transitioned to a cheaper plan?

The YES Kasi Up data plan is now available for both new and current customers. You can head to your nearest YES outlet to get more information, obtain your SIM card, and sign up for either the postpaid or prepaid plans. You can also head to their website for more information and to obtain their SIM cards and get it delivered to your doorstep for free. Of course, all terms and conditions apply.

Four Steps to Accelerate Your Machine Learning Journey

This is the golden age of machine learning­ (ML). Once considered peripheral, ML technology is becoming a core part of businesses around the world, regardless of the industry. By 2021, the International Data Corporation (IDC) estimates that spending on artificial intelligence (AI) and other cognitive technologies will exceed $50 billion.

Locally, 25% of organizations say they are setting aside at least 10% of their budget for technology, which includes investments in big data analytics (64%), cloud computing (57%), Machine Learning and artificial intelligence (33%), and robotic process automation (27%), based on the Malaysian Institute of Accountants’ “MIA-ACCA Business Outlook Report 2020″. [1] As more companies gain awareness of the importance of ML, they should work towards getting it in motion as quickly and effectively as possible.

person using a laptop
Photo by fauxels on Pexels.com

At Amazon, we have been on our own ML journey for more than two decades – applying it to areas like personalization, supply chain management, and forecasting systems for our fulfillment process. Today, there is not a single business function at Amazon that is not made better through machine learning.

Whether your company is just getting started or in the middle of your first implementation, here are the four steps you should take to have a successful machine learning journey.  

Get Your Data in Order

When it comes to adopting machine learning, data is often cited as the number one challenge. We found that more than 50% of time spent in building ML models can be spent in data wrangling, data cleanup, and pre-processing stages. Therefore, prioritize investing in the establishment of a strong data strategy to avoid spending excessive time and resources on data cleanup and management.

person holding white printer paper
Photo by bongkarn thanyakij on Pexels.com

When starting out, the three most important questions to ask are:

  • What data is available today?
  • What data can be made available?
  • A year from now, what data will we wish we had started collecting today?

In order to determine what data is available today, you will need to overcome data hugging – the tendency for teams to gatekeep data they work with most closely. Breaking down silos between teams for a more expansive view of the data landscape while still maintaining data governance is crucial for long-term success.

Additionally, identify what data actually matters as part of your machine learning approach. Think about best ways to store data and invest early in the data processing tools for de-identification and/or anonymization, if needed.

Identify the Right Business Problems

When evaluating what and how to apply ML, focus on assessing the problem across three dimensions: data readiness, business impact, and machine learning applicability.

Balancing speed with business value is key. Instead of trying to embark on a three-year ML project, focus on a handful of critical business use cases that could be solved in the upcoming six to 10 months. Start by identifying places where you already have a lot of untapped data and evaluate if machine learning brings benefits. Avoid picking a problem that is flashy but has unclear business value, as it will end up becoming a one-off experiment.

Champion a Culture of Machine Learning

In order to scale, you need to champion a culture of machine learning. At its core, ML is experimentation­. Therefore, it is imperative that your organization embrace failures and take a long-term view of what is possible.

high angle photo of robot
Photo by Alex Knight on Pexels.com

Businesses also need to combine a blend of technical and domain experts to work backward from the customer problem. Assembling the right group of people also helps eliminate the cultural barrier to adoption with a quicker buy-in from the business.

Similarly, leaders should constantly find ways to simplify the process of ML adoption for their developers. Since building ML infrastructures at scale is a time and labor-intensive process, leaders should encourage their teams to use tools that cover the entire ML workflow to build, train, and deploy these models efficiently.

For instance, 123RF, a homegrown stock photography portal, aims to make design smarter, faster, and easier for users. To do so, it relies on Amazon Athena, Amazon Kinesis, and AWS Lambda for data pipeline processing. Its newer products like Designs.ai Videomaker uses Amazon Polly to create voice-overs in more than 10 different languages. With AWS, 123RF has maintained flexibility in scaling its infrastructure and shortened product development cycles and is looking to incorporate other services to support its machine learning & AI research.

Develop Your Team

Developing your team is essential to foster a successful machine learning culture. Rather than spending resources to recruit new talent in a competitive market, hone in on developing your company’s internal talent through robust training programs.

group of people sitting indoors
Photo by fauxels on Pexels.com

Years ago, Amazon created an in-house Machine Learning University (MLU) to help its own developers sharpen their ML skills or equip neophytes with tools to get started. We made the same machine learning courses available to all developers through AWS’s Training and Certification offering.

DBS Bank, a Singaporean multinational bank, employed a different approach. It is collaborating with AWS to train its employees to program their own ML-powered AWS DeepRacer autonomous 1/18th scale car, and race among themselves at the DBS x AWS DeepRacer League. Through this initiative, it aims to train at least 3,000 employees to be conversant in AI and ML by year end.


[1] MIA (Malaysian Institute of Accountants) and ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants), Business Outlook Report 2020, 2020

Free 1GB For Now, Free 1GB for Later, Free 1GB For the Entire Day!

The whole COVID-19 situation has made 2020 a little bit of a write off. There are at least a few things that made 2020 look a little better, some positivity. We now realise that we can be productive at home, we save a little bit more money and become a little more healthy by not eating out, prices of petrol goes down, we get our own little 1m bubble of personal space, and best of all – free data.

By now, everyone would have known that you can claim 1GB of free data daily from the major operators like Maxis, Digi, Celcom, UMobile, and Unifi Mobile. There are limitations to that though. The 1GB of data only applies from 8.00 a.m. to 6.00 p.m. in the evening.

1GB of data may not sound like much at first. Start using them for just emails and sharing documents and even get on a messenger app though and you might be pleasantly surprised. Without watching Netflix, YouTube, stream at high-quality with Spotify, or downloading games, 1GB is way more than enough. 8.00 a.m. to 6.00 p.m. is also the usual working time for the average Malaysian. So the time limit made plenty of sense. At least that was the case until June 2020.

From the 1st of July, 2020l; which was yesterday, all the way until 31st December 2020, users of the major telecommunication operators get to enjoy the 1GB of free data daily for 24 hours instead of a restricted time of the day. That also means you get about 30GB of free data in the week.

If your home is equipped with its own internet, you would find that 30GB is a little too much to spend. We wonder how some people can have 60GB of data and still not have enough. Still, we like free things and so we will gladly take it with open arms. For more information regarding this new policy, you can head over to your telco’s websites. No, it is not too late to switch over telco too; we did not mention which to which.

Celcom Xpax Truly Unlimited with Ultra Hour!

Having an unlimited amount of something is great. Bottomless drinks in restaurants, for example, are great for us. It means we will never go thirsty for the period you sit in that restaurant. It also means value-for-money. Everyone likes to get value-for-money things. They are like a bargain for whatever.

Celcom has always been at the forefront of that for some time. Then again, they have been quite aggressive in their product offerings. Celcom’s most recent prepaid plan was a real value-for-money product. You get for what you need, technically, for not too exorbitant amount of money.

Now they come with Celcom Xpax Truly Unlimited prepaid plan. Technically it is a monthly plan still that you pay for with your prepaid credits. They also renew automatically if you have enough credits within your SIM card. You do not need that much though. You only need MYR 12 every week. That is as low as it gets for the current prepaid unlimited plan almost anywhere.

Source: Celcom

For MYR 12 a week, you get 3MBps access to the internet and other services endlessly. For MYR 35 a month, you get a whole month of unlimited internet access at the same speed cap. The weekly plan gives you 1GB of hotspot data too for free. The monthly plan gives you 3GB of hotspot data to play with. On top of that you can of course add hotspot data plans for MYR 1 (1GB valid for one day) and MYR 3 (5GB valid for 3 days).

Should you ever need more 3MBps though you still can opt for Celcom’s Xpax Ultra Hour Passes. It gives you uncapped data speeds at a limited time. Still, for at least one hour, you have access to unlimited internet use. You can download all the Netflix shows you want for your commute the next day or later starting with MYR 1 (1 hour) and all the way to MYR 8 (24 hours).

Capped data speeds not your thing? Need, full speed internet all the time? They have those too, with daily passes from MYR 2 (capped at 2GB) all the way to monthly passes at MYR 30 (capped at 5GB). These plans also come with unlimited YouTube streams from 1 a.m. to 7 a.m.

Celcom’s Xpax Truly Unlimited plan is available today onward of course. You can find out more on the Truly Unlimited Plan on their website.

Hotlink Goes Unlimited From MYR 3/day!

Our lives today are driven by data. We consume data for our daily lives, and we give out data to gain access to more data. Our data consumption rate and requirement increase everyday too and that is why every other telco in the world wants to move toward 5G speeds and latency.

The amount of data being consumed today has led some local telco in Malaysia to come up with unlimited data plans at capped speeds. This started with UMobile and their prepaid plans. Other started picking up the unlimited data packages to offer to their consumers or potential consumers at capped data speeds. Celcom has been offering differing unlimited data plans to suit different users at different times.

Source: Maxis

The only major telco in Malaysia that has not adopted the unlimited data plan for its prepaid users is Maxis. Until now that is. Maxis Hotlink Prepaid users can finally enjoy unlimited data at reasonable prices.

The largest private telco in Malaysia is offering unlimited data for Hotlink users at speeds capped to 3 Mbps. Of course, you can push the cap a little higher to 6 Mbps should you want to pay a little more.

While 3 Mbps or 6 Mbps may not sound like much, it is fast enough to stream Netflix at 1080p should you get a good signal. YouTube’s buffer screen would be at a minimal to non-existent too at 3 Mbps. If you do think that you need more speed than the capped 3 Mbps or 6 Mbps though you have the option to pay for uncapped speed quotas that will last up to 7 days with your current plans.

Source: Maxis

There are some small caveats to the Hotlink Prepaid Unlimited plans though. We do suggest that you go through their FAQ page to ensure that this is the plan for you and to find out a little bit more about the plan.

Within the FAQ you will find that the “Unlimited” plan is not truly unlimited. You get up to 6MBps of data speeds to work with. That has been dusted, cleared, and covered earlier. Beyond that though, this 6MBps or 3MBps will only be until you used up 50GB in that month. That is if you go for the monthly plan. If you go for a weekly plan, they limit you to 15GB of data usage and 5GB for daily passes. This is accordance to Fair Usage Policy (FUP), according to Maxis.

After you hit the FUP ceiling, you will be knocked back down to Maxis’ free basic internet plan at 512kbps, which is still enough for basic internet browsing in our experience. This plan is only limited to smartphones by the way. If you want to tether or use your smartphone as a hotspot device, you would have to purchase additional data plans.

If you are wondering if you can stream Netflix at Full HD with the limited data speeds, we assure you that you can watch movies at up to Full HD resolution with the 6MBps plan. Technically, Netflix only requires about 5MBps for an HD and Full HD stream. If you want to go for Ultra HD streams, you need about 25MBps of data speeds, but you will not get Ultra HD streams on most smartphone devices anyway.

Source: Maxis

Still, if you want high speed data for your videos on smartphones, Hotlink also has the new Prepaid Video data plan with up to 10GB of data just for YouTube, Viu, iflix, Astro Go, and Tonton. Still, going on the Unlimited Plan (monthly plan) we mentioned earlier gives you a free premium access to Viu for 30 days with Maxis TV, all you have to do is have and active plan and go on the Maxis app to claim the access.

Maxis Hotlink’s Unlimited plan is readily available now for all Hotlink users. Of course, terms and conditions apply. We do suggest you read through the FAQ page to find out what you are getting yourselves into as well. Then again, we suggest that you should read as much as possible about a product before buying it.

Coronavirus Puts Remote Work Security to the Test

*This article is contributed by Kevin Reed, CISO, Acronis*

As authorities worldwide work to contain the deadly coronavirus and try to keep it from spreading, the travel restrictions put in place are causing many organizations to rethink their operations. Rather than traveling to a region where their return flight might be at risk of being quarantined, many are turning to videoconferencing, file sync and share, and other remote work solutions to keep their businesses going. In China, where the disease started and where remote work policies are historically uncommon, the remote collaboration tool Zoom saw a single-day increase in downloads of 15%.

Source: Acronis

Remote work can certainly benefit a company, encouraging more collaboration and knowledge sharing. That’s why its adoption has grown significantly in the last several years. In fact, the global enterprise file synchronization and sharing (EFSS) market is expected to reach $24.4 billion by 2027, up from $3.4 billion in 2018.

Yet the wrong solution can put organizations at risk if they don’t address data security and privacy. To combat this predicament, businesses need to implement secure file sync and share technologies so that employees can work from home while also being able to access and transfer data in a manner that is both secure and safe.

What is file sync and share?

File sync and share technology is designed with the modern professional landscape in mind; a landscape where workforces rely on multiple devices and location flexibility in order to maximize productivity. File sync and share gives organizations the power to share files across multiple devices and with multiple people using file synchronization – allowing files to be stored in any approved data repository and accessed remotely by employees from any of their IT provisioned devices.

Security risks associated with remote work

Historically, remote work policies have been a sensitive topic for organizations. While some employers might fear that remote work creates a dip in employee performance, the larger concern is actually securing the proprietary and business-critical data modern companies rely on.

On a corporate network, IT teams can easily secure employee devices, but this becomes much more difficult to do once an employee accesses the system from outside the network.

Outside of the corporate network, devices are easily susceptible to attacks from third parties and cybercriminals. Attacking these unsecured endpoints can reveal the employee’s login credentials to cybercriminals so they can access the company’s system, or even use ransomware to lock company data – which happened to the NextCloud service last fall.

Benefits of secure file sync and share

Solutions that are built to deliver secure file sync and share give organizations the flexibility to enable employee collaboration and productivity while giving the IT department control over the protection of company data. Here are some of the ways that secure file sync and share technology protects and empowers businesses:

  • Secure File Sharing – It’s well known that when a file sync and share solution isn’t provided, employees will often resort to using their own personal devices and tools. Because these tools and devices exist outside of the control of IT departments, they’re inherently not secure and put sensitive company data at risk. With secure file sync and share, employees can easily share and access company files while IT maintains the privacy and security of the data.
  • Easy Anywhere, Anytime Access ­– Organizations are beginning to see the workday less as a clock-in/clock-out office environment, and have adopted an environment that supports the various schedules and lifestyles of their employees. With secure file-sync and share, employees are no longer constrained to a single corporate-owned device to be productive.
  • Data Loss Prevention and Disaster Recovery – When corporate data is centrally stored, it’s better protected against data leakage. This includes data lost to a cyberattack, employee error, or a lost or stolen device. With an enterprise-grade file sync and share solution, sensitive corporate data is kept secure and protected.
  • Easy Collaboration – File sync and share services are adapting to not only protect company data but to aid in remote workplace collaboration. Some file sync and share tools now provide users with tools to preview and edit files in-browser, search and find specific company documents and versions, and keep all employees on the same version of a document.

Final Thought

While global emergencies such as the coronavirus outbreak may highlight the benefits of having a secure remote work policy in place, the use of secure collaborative tools should be understood as part of a larger cultural shift. As more organizations adopt remote work policies, the IT teams, and MSPs that service these companies should adopt secure file sync and share solutions.

To help organizations introduce remote work policies in a way that is safe and secure, MSPs can offer their business customers Acronis Cyber Files Cloud, a secure enterprise file sync and share solution that features end-to-end encryption, user controls, and an audit trail.

Similarly, organizations that do not rely on an MSP can choose Acronis Cyber Files Advanced, an easy, complete, and secure enterprise file sharing solution that makes users more productive and gives IT complete control over business content to ensure security, maintain compliance, and enable BYOD.