Using the cloud to solve today and tomorrow’s data challenges

Businesses are engaged in a never-ending battle to manage and store data. The data held doubles almost yearly, with associated infrastructure and management costs rapidly increasing. The solution? A secure environment that is designed to solve today and tomorrow’s data challenges.

The amount of data we create and store is staggering – and it’s transforming the industry. Globally, the installed storage capacity is growing at almost 20% annually.

Customers, clients and regulators demand that all personal information stored in their respective environments be it private cloud or public cloud should be secure from threats and comply with regulations. The dangers are rising, with attacks, such as ransomware, increasing by 15% in 2022.

But it’s not just about protection; the data organizations hold incredible power. In a core, multi-cloud and edge world, CIOs must be able to leverage information to create insights to gain a competitive advantage. “By 2025, 70% of organizations will shift their focus from big to small and wide data, providing more context for analytics,” predicts Gartner. But much of this data is unstructured and stored in silos – limiting its potential.

Current solutions prevalent in today’s organizations don’t provide the performance, protection or innovation required – which is why we would like to introduce GetStorage, Getronics’ storage as a service offer.

Redefining cloud storage

Organizations and leaders face five key challenges in managing their data. Increasing global threats, stronger regulation and raised customer awareness of data breaches and data storage are all shifting expectations – and businesses must adapt.

Here are the five critical cloud data storage challenges facing every organization in 2022:

1. Data security – Data must be protected to the highest levels and comply with all local and international regulations, including GDPR. Data protection is mission-critical as 90% consider it as a business imperative , but too many businesses store unstructured data in silos. Object storage can manage the complex task of storing unstructured data, ensuring it’s accessible, but remains protected.
   
2. Information accessibility – Storage platforms must enable new ways of working, such as hybrid and flexible approaches. The information must be accessible and available, at all times, and across multiple devices. Solutions must integrate within existing systems and operate on current hardware to reduce the cost of implementation.
   
3. Size & scalability – Organizations must have a storage solution that’s flexible enough to grow as they do, says Gartner. Organizations are drowning in huge amount of unstructured data, and it grows every day. The inability to scale storage and provide structure if impacting growth potential. Scalable cloud storage systems give organizations the capacity and capability to stay productive and profitable, optimizing performance while minimizing cost.
   
4. Security & Protection – Data breaches, hacks and attacks are at their highest levels, says the World Economic Forum. By 2031, ransomware will cost businesses $265bn per year. The cost of dealing with a single data breach costs $4.24m for each business, with 25% of hacks caused by social engineering attacks. It’s clear that the risks are growing every year, making security and protection a priority for every organization of any size. The public impact of data breaches can have a damaging effect on reputation and destroy trust.
   
5. Innovation & Insights ­–­ Machine learning and AI offer businesses incredible opportunities to leverage insights, and drive better decision making. By 2025, half of data centers will deploy robots with AI capabilities, forecasts Gartner, unlocking efficiency savings of up to 30%. Data is already helping to drive better decision-making for 66% of leaders, says McKinsey – and the opportunities continue to grow with more advanced AI and machine learning platforms providing better insights.

Cloud storage integration and implementation

The experts all agree that CIOs must focus on delivering solutions that are agile, flexible, and scalable. That can only be achieved by adopting technology that is shaped around the organization’s current needs and strategic plans for growth.

As-a-service (aaS) providers can deliver purpose-built solutions ­more quickly and efficiently than legacy players. Systems can be designed and implemented around existing infrastructure, requiring little to no re-engineering.

GetStorage is an end-to-end solution that keeps the customer in control. The process is led by our experienced consultants, who can remove the barriers to Storage as a Service (SaaS) adoption in your business.

To integrate the platform, we’re partnering with a leading storage software provider, enabling Getronics certified operations team to deliver a seamless service.

Getronics has a 4-stage process for integrating our private cloud into your business:

1. Data gathering
2. Design and Build
3. Implement
4. Operate

GetStorage has been purpose-built to help companies and CIOs tackle the five key challenges identified above. Data is secure, scalable, and available always through the platform. Information can be processed and analyzed to inform effective decision-making. Based entirely on the cloud, you can optimize storage and minimize management costs – delivering a lower total cost of ownership (TCO).

The integrated system is built on secure foundations, providing the highest levels of protection. More than that, the system is an enabler – supporting CIOs and companies to achieve their mission-critical priorities using the data they hold more effectively.

Solving today and tomorrow’s data challenges

Access to data – and using it effectively ­– are critical to organizational survival, says McKinsey. Businesses that can reduce barriers to data access are already harnessing benefits and building a crucial competitive advantage for the future.

They’re working faster, better and smarter, using AI and machine learning to process, analyze, and mine information for insights to deliver better business decision-making.

Put simply, Storage as a Service can help in today and tomorrow’s data challenges.

If you want to know more about GetStorage or any of Getronics’ services, request a call.