complexity for meeting compliance requirements and assuring business continuity and disaster recovery. ... Governor's Of
BIG DATA STRATEGIES: Ensuring Compliance, Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Data here, data there, data everywhere. This small rhyme captures a big concern for IT teams: Current fragmented data storage practices create complexity for meeting compliance requirements and assuring business continuity and disaster recovery. Typically, government data is stored in many siloed locations and forms, including on-premises servers and storage systems, off-premises backup to tape services and cloud repositories. No single, holistic view exists across departments to truly know what data is available and where it resides. When it is difficult to track the data itself, you cannot assure it is recoverable or stored in a manner that is compliant with regulatory requirements. These challenges are becoming more difficult as the volume and variety of data grows on a rapid and large scale. To keep pace, governments are exploring new solutions that can meet several objectives: For compliance, a solution that offers visibility to identify and store data with required separation, and that meets varied requirements for security and access controls. For business continuity, a solution that provides a cloud-based repository to enable immediate and on-demand user and application access if the primary data source fails or is unreachable. For disaster recovery, a multi-cloud solution to continue operations if a failure occurs in an on-premises system or a primary cloud service. This solution may encompass a hybrid private and public cloud architecture and use multiple public cloud providers for rapid and efficient recovery. Another goal is to combine silos of data into a single data lake to gain useful insights and improve service delivery. Ultimately, the data management solution must deliver access, protection and recovery capabilities across physical, virtual and cloud data assets to provide a complete view of all managed data.
Before you go too far into the cloud, you need to understand its impact on compliance. But now that many cloud providers hold key certifications like FedRamp and key program standards like Medicaid are established, it will be easier to move applications and data to the cloud.” David McCurdy, CTO, Colorado Governor’s Office of Information Technology
There are benefits to be realized by taking advantage of the cloud’s speed and agility to meet needs for primary and secondary data storage, as well as fast recovery. And moving to the cloud does not preclude the requirements for security, control and access management capabilities necessary for regulatory compliance.
State of Colorado: Taking Advantage of Cloud Security and Availability
Improvements in cloud security and clarity in program standards for data protection are two factors behind Colorado’s decision to move more data to the cloud. “Before you go too far into the cloud, you need to understand its impact on compliance,” says David McCurdy, chief technology officer in the Colorado Governor’s Office of Information Technology. “But now that many cloud providers hold key certifications like FedRAMP and program standards like Medicaid are established, it will be easier to move applications and data to the cloud.” Another reason for Colorado’s confidence in the cloud: High-availability features in a cloud infrastructure can serve disaster recovery needs. The state has consolidated applications into data centers with the ability to transfer
Key Questions
Do we have the right operational platform to give multiple agencies or departments access to a single data repository? Do we have adequate resources in place to securely access all data and applications, especially if the primary systems are unavailable?
workloads over a hybrid cloud, which also provides capacity for surges in user and application demand.
Federal Agency: Data at the Ready with Cloud Replication
“We don’t know what scenario we will be in or where or how users will be able to connect to their data,” says a data administrator for a federal agency involved in emergency response. “So we need the cloud to give our users access to the right data immediately, wherever they are.” For this agency, continuously available, up-to-date information is essential for its work in responding to natural disasters and incidents across the country. Using the cloud to back up data with real-time replication helps users work and communicate effectively while in the field. If the agency’s command center is affected, the cloud provides a failover path for accessing data and applications, as well as a recovery point if operations must move to a different location. As data volume grows, so do challenges for agencies around regulatory compliance and business continuity. Advanced cloud solutions can strengthen compliance through better data visibility. They also offer rapid backup capability in case of system disruption or disaster.
Which compliance requirements do we need to consider in our choices for data storage and access? Do we have the right organizational, security and legal structure, as well as executive support for a data initiative?
The Center for Digital Government is a national research and advisory institute focused on technology policy and best practices in state and local government. The Center provides public- and private-sector leaders with decision support and actionable insight to help drive 21st-century government. The Center is a division of e.Republic, the nation’s only media and research company focused exclusively on state and local government and education. www.centerdigitalgov.com Commvault is a leading provider of cloud data management solutions, helping companies worldwide activate their data to drive more value and business insight and to transform modern data environments. With solutions and services delivered directly and through a worldwide network of partners and service providers, Commvault solutions comprise one of the industry’s leading portfolios in data protection and recovery, cloud, virtualization, archive, file sync and share. Commvault has earned accolades from customers and third party influencers for its technology vision, innovation, and execution as an independent and trusted expert. Without the distraction of a hardware business or other business agenda, Commvault’s sole focus on data management has led to adoption by companies of all sizes, in all industries, and for solutions deployed on premise, across mobile platforms, to and from the cloud, and provided as-a-service. To learn more, visit www.commvault.com/government-and-education. © 2017 e.Republic. All rights reserved.
