By David Lenz, Vice President, Asia Pacific, Arcserve

Data is the new oil, the new oxygen, and the lifeblood of any organisation. Without access to critical data and systems, organisations will be left behind the competition. Business and technology leaders in Asia Pacific (APAC) need to stay updated with the latest threats to their data and the tools available to them to protect it.

Here are five trends influencing how APAC organisations secure and manage their data in 2023 and beyond.

1. A massive SaaS outage will serve as a wake-up call
In 2023, we could see the first significant software as a service outage, and the message will become apparent very quickly that data backup and recovery must be front and centre. Companies across the globe are increasingly consuming software as a service rather than running their own IT infrastructure on premises. If a service like Microsoft 365 suffers a major outage, organisations need to know that while their service is guaranteed, the organisation’s data safety is not. The responsibility lies solely on the organisation.

The 3-2-1-1 data-protection strategy directs that organisations have three backup copies of data on two different media, such as disk and tape, with one of those copies located offsite for disaster recovery. The final one in this equation is immutable object storage. Immutable object storage is a next-gen data-security tool that continuously safeguards information by taking snapshots every 90 seconds. It guarantees that even in the case of a significant SaaS outage, the data can be quickly recovered.

2. Cost cutting will cause more harm than good
With spiraling energy prices and runaway inflation, companies across the board will implement cost optimisation in 2023. However, organisations cannot afford to cut back on their data-protection efforts. Even as companies rethink their operational expenditures to deal with inflation, they still need to invest in protecting, storing, and backing up their data.

Data protection may appear to be an easy place to trim and save some money. But any cuts to their data defenses will come with higher costs. The most recent IBM Cost of a Data Breach Report found that the average cost of a breach to a business in Singapore in 2022 was USD$4.35 million. In 2023, it will be essential to recognise the importance of data and make sure that any cuts to budgets have minimal impact on business operations.

3. Companies will have to allocate their security budgets wisely
That said, many companies will do some belt-tightening in security. Those that do should be aware that this is when the bad guys tend to pounce. Cyberthieves are always looking to exploit vulnerabilities. Therefore, companies that consider economic measures should do so wisely and look at where they allocate their budget concerning data security.

Today, most companies invest in the basics like firewalls, antivirus, and intrusion-detection solutions. But know that the cybercriminals will inevitably get through those defenses at least once. Organisations need to plan for that eventuality and allocate security budgets on solutions that help with data backup and recovery in the aftermath of a cyberattack.

4. Companies that use cloud backup and recovery services will look for hosting partners that accurately report scope 3 emissions
In many countries, big companies are asked to report their CO2 emissions and do their part to slow climate change. The trouble is there are no global standards for this reporting. Companies are measuring their emissions in various ways, making it hard to track and compare performance. Further, most companies only report emissions that they produce directly, such as emissions generated when offices are heated. These are called scope 1 and scope 2 emissions and are just a fraction of the global total.

Most emissions are in scope 3, produced by the activity of all the participants in a company's supply chain—produced currently and in the future. Scope 3 emissions are massive, and they are primarily unreported. This blank spot makes it easy for companies to claim they'll be net-zero businesses by 2050 because they don't have to report all the CO2 their customers produce.

In 2023, the pressure will be on cloud companies to accurately track their scope 3 emissions or risk greenwashing. And organisations that use cloud backup and recovery services will look for partners that accurately report their scope 3 emissions so that they can be good corporate citizens.

In today's ever-accelerating—and ever more unpredictable—world, business challenges of all kinds are growing more difficult to identify and solve. Data protection is one of them. The companies that do it successfully in 2023 and beyond will stay on top of the trends and implement the innovative tools and strategies they need to secure their data and move forward with competence and confidence.