Every Fortnite player knows the agony of lag. That split-second delay can mean the difference between a Victory Royale and being sent back to the lobby. It's a visceral, immediate understanding that performance matters. But what does this gaming frustration have to teach businesses about their own digital operations, particularly concerning data location and control?
Four areas that affect your business performance:
The further away the server, the longer data takes to travel (higher ping).
Tip: Utilise Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) to cache data closer to end-users, reducing travel time and improving response rates.
Understanding the Impact of Latency on Network Performance
Tip: Invest in high-quality network infrastructure and optimise routing paths to minimise latency. Regularly monitor and adjust network configurations to ensure optimal performance.
The digital traffic jam: Too much traffic on the internet route.
Tip: Implement load balancing techniques to distribute traffic evenly across servers. This helps prevent bottlenecks and ensures smoother data flow.
The game servers being overwhelmed by too many players or intense in-game action.
Tip: Scale server capacity dynamically based on demand using cloud services. This ensures that your servers can handle peak loads without compromising performance.
Performance Beyond Lag: Where's your data sitting?
Data sovereignty means data is subject to the laws of the country in which it is collected and processed. While not a direct cause of "lag" in the gaming sense, where data is stored absolutely impacts performance. This is due to the underlying network routes and potential for complex international data transfers. More significantly, data sovereignty is crucial for:
Compliance
Meeting local regulations and data protection laws (like the NZ Privacy Act).
Security
Knowing where your data is, who has access to it, and the security standards in place under local jurisdiction.
Control
Having legal recourse and control over your data.
Just as distance affects game performance, the physical location of business data and applications impacts how quickly employees and customers can access them. Network congestion isn't just a gaming issue; it can slow down critical business processes, file transfers, and cloud application access.
Overwhelmed servers (whether game servers or business application servers) lead to frustrated users and lost productivity. Sound familiar?
What you should know
Data sovereignty is a crucial component of a strong security posture – you can better protect data when you know where it is and what laws apply.
Understanding your data's journey is a key part for protection and performance. Where does it go, and who handles it?
Partnering with a cloud provider that can demonstrate adherence to local data protection laws and has robust local security measures in place.
Secure connections and access controls are vital regardless of data location, but particularly important when data may traverse different networks.
"Security awareness training is really starting to play an important role... businesses are realising how valuable that is."
