Managing data sprawl in modern work environments

Did you know that data creation is at an all-time high? It is estimated that 1.7 MB of data is created every second for every person on Earth. As businesses grow and adopt more digital tools, the volume of generated data increases, making data sprawl a hidden challenge. Data sprawl refers to the uncontrolled growth of data across a business’s systems, platforms, and storage locations.

Addressing data sprawl is both a responsibility and an opportunity for managed service providers (MSPs). Unchecked data growth can lead to security risks, compliance concerns, and inefficiencies in customer business operations. In this blog, we’ll explore the causes and consequences of data sprawl, effective management techniques, and how MSPs can take the lead with powerful data protection strategies.

Why is data creation accelerating in the cloud?

The rapid surge in data is largely due to the move from physical hardware with finite storage capacities to flexible cloud storage. Moreover, storage costs have consistently decreased, especially in the consumer sector, where businesses are less burdened by concerns about data volume due to its abundance. However, many businesses only recognize the extent of their data expansion when they face limitations within their SaaS services.

As Simon Gibson, Managing Director of Rocket IT NZ, aptly pointed out, “Customers only realize the magnitude of their data production when they reach their SharePoint limit. That’s when they pay attention because the cost per gigabyte becomes apparent.

Nowadays, we are spoiled by the abundance of data storage, and for many businesses, the realization that there will be a cost at the end of the day hasn’t quite sunk in yet. But as people face this reality, they become more deliberate in their data management.”

The consequences of ineffective data management for your customers

While the benefits of cloud-driven data creation are undisputable, they come with a caveat—the risk of data sprawl. Without robust management strategies in place, organizations face several repercussions. For instance, minor issues can gather momentum and snowball into larger challenges that are harder to address. This sets the stage for a range of negative outcomes that include:

• Increased complexity:Managing “sprawling” data landscapes can become much more challenging, leading to confusion, inefficiency, and reduced productivity.
• Heightened security risks:Expanded attack surfaces and fragmented data sources expose your customers to greater cybersecurity threats, including data breaches, ransomware attacks, and user error.
• Compliance concerns:Failure to manage data effectively can result in non-compliance with regulatory mandates, leading to severe penalties, reputational damage, and loss of trust among customers and stakeholders.

To mitigate these risks, we are offering you our free downloadable guide, Key Strategies for Controlling Data Sprawl, which includes a detailed roadmap and checklist to help you implement effective data management strategies and ensure robust protection for your customers’ data.

Partnering for success: The vital role of MSPs and their customers

As data continues to grow across various platforms, devices, and applications, managing and securing it becomes increasingly complex. For MSPs and their customers, addressing this concern is not just a necessity but a strategic imperative.

As an MSP, you are pivotal in addressing data sprawl, but you can’t do it alone. Collaboration with your customers is important. This is where the concept of shared responsibility comes into play.

Shared responsibility with your customers is vital for success, and understanding your respective roles within the cloud environment is essential for safeguarding your customers’ Microsoft 365® data. Now, we will delve into the breakdown of these roles and how they work together to confront the pervasive issue of data sprawl.

The customer’s role

Below are three questions to consider when understanding your customers’ roles and responsibilities regarding their data.

1. Does my customer understand how their data is managed today?

It’s important for customers to know how their data is used and distributed across their business. A great place to start is by inventorying the applications, devices, and services employed across their teams. If this step is overlooked, it is usually a cue to consider data governance. Data governance involves establishing ownership, access, retention periods, risk assessment, and other data lifecycle procedures to comply with regulatory requirements and internal best practices. As their trusted advisor, you can assist in defining these protocols.

2. Are all of your customers’ employees aware of the need to be vigilant?  

68% of breaches are related to human error, often stemming from a lack of awareness and understanding. These challenges continue to increase due to the rise and sophistication of data threats such as ransomware and phishing attacks. This means that, ultimately, customers need to be aware of the impact of their decisions on how they are using, sharing, and storing sensitive data and what to look out for to prevent unauthorized access.  

Employee awareness and understanding are essential components of any data management strategy. By allocating time to learn about the latest threats, employees are better able to make informed decisions and mitigate common data risks.

3. Does my customer understand how future technology investments may create data risk?

It is crucial to assess how your customers are considering new technologies for their business. The existing technology stack is often overlooked, and they can fail to anticipate how future technology investments might introduce new data risks.

For instance, if a business solely relies on Microsoft 365 but then decides to integrate into a new platform, the customer may need to consider how safe their data is outside the Microsoft ecosystem. This introduces a new data risk that may not be adequately protected.

An additional consideration is the emergence and excitement around AI, specifically Microsoft Copilot. As interest continues to grow, it is important to bring it back to data fundamentals.

As Chris Hales, Senior Cloud Consultant at Cubesys, highlighted, “AI provides great business potential, but customers can only tap into it effectively by revisiting basics like data governance, security, and protection to mitigate risks like data leaks.” 

Regardless of a business’s eagerness or caution in adopting new technology, proactive measures are essential when navigating unfamiliar terrain. After all, Hales concluded, “AI is great only if it has the right access to data and the right context to data.”

The MSP’s role

Shared responsibility is key to guiding your customers in anticipating future risks. As you navigate this landscape, it is crucial to remember the fundamentals: data governance, security, and protection.

Today, businesses are overwhelmed with a surge of data from various sources, which leads to security risks and operational inefficiencies. As an MSP, your expertise in managing and securing data infrastructure is essential. By offering tailored solutions and support, you enable your customers to optimize data management, enhance protection, and leverage technology effectively. Here’s how you can provide value to your customers:

1. Use data to drive customer conversations on key concepts such as retention.

It is important to keep things simple to help your customers understand how their data is managed. Visualizations can greatly aid these conversations, and with ConnectWise, partners can employ “smart insights” to facilitate data-driven discussions regarding protected data. This provides a visual depiction of the data protected by the customer, enabling a deeper exploration into key concepts such as retention.

While retention policies are frequently overlooked by many customers, varied policies can hold significant importance, particularly in regulated markets. With ConnectWise, you can set retention policies by workload (i.e., a different policy between Microsoft Exchange and Teams) while ensuring compliance with industry-specific regulations.

2. Drive customer awareness through timely events like compliance and security updates.

An effective method to raise customer awareness is by communicating compliance requirements at both a national and business level. Given the complexity of these topics, simplifying them is crucial for comprehension. By offering clear, straightforward training, customers can better understand their responsibility for business data, leading to increased awareness and commitment around data protection laws and regulations.

It is similarly important to educate your customers on the importance of compliance in combating data sprawl successfully. By guiding customers through complex regulatory requirements such as GDPR and HIPAA, you can play a key role in ensuring compliance and mitigating legal risks. Additionally, adopting frameworks such as the Essential 8 can further enhance security posture and resilience against evolving cyberthreats.

3. Comprehensive data protection.

Often, a business’s primary use of technology is Microsoft 365, and this is where leveraging a comprehensive backup comes into play.

“We use ConnectWise Cloud Backup because it enables us to safeguard modern data workloads such as Planner and Teams. Moreover, when customers work in the cloud, the necessity for increased recovery points becomes evident.” 

Marc Hoeffle, Founder at IT Booster GmbH

Secondly, as it relates to AI adoption, corporate data is the fundamental building block for generative AI solutions, and data risk can prevent AI from producing the best possible responses. Therefore, safeguarding this intellectual property from risks is essential to maintaining a competitive advantage and underscores the critical importance of comprehensive coverage. This is why, as partners begin to navigate AI deployment and adoption, ConnectWise Cloud Backup™ helps to provide comprehensive data protection across Microsoft 365.

Monitoring data usage in Microsoft 365

To combat data sprawl effectively, MSPs must equip themselves with the tools necessary to monitor data usage within Microsoft 365. One fundamental aspect of this process is understanding how to check the amount of data stored across different services and applications.

Microsoft 365 provides built-in tools and reports that enable administrators to gain insights into data usage, storage allocation, and user activity. By navigating through the Microsoft 365 admin center, MSPs can access detailed metrics and analytics, including Exchange Online mailbox usage and SharePoint and OneDrive for Business storage metrics.

Watch this step-by-step walkthrough to learn how to navigate the Microsoft 365 admin center to view how much data your customers are using:

By following these steps, MSPs can effectively leverage the reporting capabilities within the Microsoft 365 admin center to gain valuable insights into data usage and proactively address data sprawl issues for their customers.

Complete Microsoft 365 data protection

As a leading provider of backup and recovery solutions, ConnectWise offers MSPs a comprehensive platform to safeguard their customers’ data against loss, corruption, and cyberthreats. By seamlessly integrating with Microsoft 365, ConnectWise ensures continuous data protection, granular recovery options, and centralized management capabilities.

ConnectWise Cloud Backup offers comprehensive coverage of Microsoft 365 productivity data, including:

• Exchange Online
• SharePoint Online
• OneDrive for Business
• Teams Chat and Planner

By combining the flexible licensing options with insights into data, you can ensure that you are protecting your customers irrespective of where they are on their Microsoft 365 journey.

Empowering MSPs with unlimited storage and retention

Additionally, amidst the challenges posed by data sprawl, ConnectWise partners can empower their customers with innovative solutions designed to mitigate risks, enhance operational resilience, and unlock the full potential of their data assets. ConnectWise Cloud Backup offers unlimited storage and retention, which is a compelling solution to address the complexities of data sprawl. These include:

• Scalable data protection: Unlimited protection ensures that you can take immediate action to ensure all data is protected at no extra cost.

“A majority of backup solutions come with restrictions and storage/retention tiers. The benefit of ConnectWise is that it’s nice and simple with no restriction on storage and no restriction on retention. So, you can get away from any product complications and focus more on the customer and how they manage their data.”

Danny Stacey, Enterprise Account Manager, Transparity

• Regulatory compliance:With flexible retention policy capabilities, ConnectWise Cloud Backup enables organizations to adhere to regulatory requirements and industry standards, effortlessly retaining data for mandated periods while maintaining compliance with data protection regulations.
• Streamlined management:ConnectWise offers an intuitive management console that simplifies data backup and recovery processes, empowering MSPs to efficiently manage and monitor data protection activities across multiple Microsoft 365 customers from a centralized dashboard.
• Enhanced data resilience:With automated, incremental backups and robust encryption mechanisms, ConnectWise Cloud Backup offers unparalleled data resilience, enabling organizations to recover swiftly from data loss incidents and mitigate operational disruptions.

Leading the charge against data sprawl

Understanding the intricacies of data sprawl is essential for MSPs seeking to apply value-added services and strategic guidance to their customers. By addressing the root causes of data sprawl, implementing robust data management frameworks, and leveraging a comprehensive backup solution, you can position yourself as a trusted advisor to your customers.

When you leverage tools to monitor data usage, educate customers on data protection best practices, and partner with comprehensive solutions such as ConnectWise Cloud Backup, you can empower your customers to navigate the complexities of data sprawl with confidence.