Is Your Company’s Data Protected? Cloud-Based vs Local Servers

Preventing devastating hacks with cloud-based software

If your food business is like most companies who haven’t yet switched to cloud-based software, your data — including everything from your customer and sales information, to proprietary recipe variations, to financials and more — are likely saved onto your local server.

Whether something is saved directly to your computer or to a shared drive across your organization, these documents are typically stored on a local server. Even with the best IT team and security systems, hackers may target your organization to compromise you and your customer’s data. Unfortunately, as viruses continue to become more complex and hackers find new ways to break into your computers, the effects of a hack can be expensive and damning.

Often times, it’s not your data these hackers want. Recently, we have seen hackers installing viruses on local servers and demanding up to $50,000 to remove it. For food manufacturing and distributing companies, these server hacks can corrupt both your data and any manufacturing machinery connected to your local server, so the impacts of a hack can be devastating for business.

Most companies believe that they are safe… until it happens to them. Even with firewalls and virus protection, the threats of hacking continue to grow, and hackers often target small to midsize organizations knowing that their security may be lacking and their livelihoods depend on that data; in fact, nearly half of all cyber attacks are committed against small businesses with under 250 employees, and a business falls victim to a ransomware attack every 14 seconds. We know from experience — even as a technology company, our company and some of our clients were recently threatened by these types of attacks!

Thankfully, since we store our data in Salesforce and Azure, our most important information was saved and our clients’ data was protected. While a hack can certainly slow down business as usual, we were grateful that our data was protected and we could recover quickly. Working with cloud-based software — like Salesforce, Azure, and Accounting Seed — ensured that we were protected when a virus threatened the company we’ve worked so hard to build.

Why is cloud computing safe?

We know that corporations prefer to keep their data in-house, but if we know that, so do hackers. That is a major reason why so many companies are shifting to cloud-based data storage and management. Aside from the conveniences of real-time updates and the ability to access your data from everywhere, you can also rest assured that your data is safe.

Some companies may claim to offer cloud-based software; in reality, many store your company’s data on their own servers, leaving your data just as much at risk. As a commitment to your company’s safety, we are built entirely on the Salesforce platform, meaning your data is always stored on Salesforce servers and you retain full access to your data, even if you no longer work with us.

Large companies like Salesforce offer cutting edge server security — the kind that a small IT department simply cannot afford to install, maintain, or update. With an entire team of experts devoted to keeping your data protected and accessible to your team at all times, you can trust that your precious data remains out of the hands of malicious hackers.

However, protecting your data from harmful hacks isn’t the only benefit to cloud computing. Cloud servers are created to make collaborative work easier than ever, without compromising your company’s safety. Here are a few ways that cloud software makes protects your data against cyber attacks.

Files are saved in more than one place

Even for non-sensitive files — like marketing copy or sales scripts, for example — a lost or deleted file could severely impact your day to day business activities and set you back months or years. Saving non-essential files to the cloud ensures that, whether a file is accidentally deleted or your server is attacked by a virus, you have a copy of your work that’s safe and sound thanks to automatic backups and file redundancy. Cloud solutions like Salesforce make permanently deleting files more challenging, so a slip of the hand doesn’t lead to losing weeks of work.

Cloud storage is especially valuable for documents that may take up unnecessary space on your computer but that you are required to keep for a certain period of time, like legal documents, compliance documents, or financial reports. Moving files you do not regularly access to the cloud allows you to stay organized throughout your daily work and make even your most disorganized employee more efficient. Plus, having your documents saved in multiple places means that your data remains accessible from another device even if your physical computer is broken, lost, or stolen.

Human error is reduced with controlled access

Managing which users have access to what documents is incredibly easy with our combined ERP & CRM software solutions. When fewer people have access to data, there are fewer weak spots available for hackers to compromise. While your organization’s IT department may be well aware of how to reduce security threats, this ever-evolving knowledge is often not considered by or regularly passed on to other employees across your organization.

Limiting access to your data means that one employee’s weak password does not put your company at risk. In this way, implementing cloud computing can have a ripple effect on your company’s scalability by making remote work more feasible and allowing ready access to the data necessary to make important business decisions as they arise, rather than waiting until the next day.

Files are encrypted for added protection

Salesforce is designed with security questions in mind, which is why we trust our data to the Salesforce platform. Part of what our Salesforce-based CRM and ERP solution offers are security tools to inform your IT department of any weaknesses and added security solutions like encryption, API keys, compliance updates, and two-factor authentication. All of your security information is available in a functional report to help your IT team best protect your company.

As part of our ERP & CRM solution, we ensure that your data moves safely and seamlessly from your accounting software to your customer management software for maximum efficiency and protection. Learn more about how the Salesforce platform maintains security to protect your data.

Crucial data is viewed and saved in a protected environment

A Excel or Numbers document saved locally can easily fall into the hands of anyone. By being duplicated, emailed, or even copy and pasted into a new document, your data runs the risk of being compromised and falling into the wrong hands. Document management and version control are major issues in many corporate environments, and using the cloud can help you get a better idea of what is happening to your documents.

As an extension of controlled access, safe document sharing can increase collaboration in a safe, impactful way. When documents are locked for read-only access for certain users, your content retains its integrity as the final version and is safe from prying eyes. This is part of why we encourage companies to use extensions like Quip with their ERP & CRM solution: so you can know your data isn’t compromised by anyone, inside or outside of your company.

Take your food and beverage business to the next level

Protecting your local server can end up costing you — in manpower, update costs, and ultimately the price of restoring your data if your system is hacked. Frequent security updates and increasingly tricky cyber criminals can make maintaining the safety of your data expensive and time consuming, meaning you scale slower to meet the ever-increasing technological requirements necessary to run a business.

With our cloud-based CRM & ERP system, your business management can be easier than ever…without having to worry about the safety of your data. Our commitment to your data protection ensures that you’re safe if a hacker attempts to infiltrate your company’s data.

Ready to create a safer, scalable future for your company? Request a consultation of our GoldFinch ERP & CRM cloud solution and see if we’re the right choice for your food manufacturing or distribution company.