07-Aug-2019 10:43 AM
Posted by Prashanth GJ, CEO, Technobind
We
are not new to the “data is the new business asset” messaging anymore. The
increase in investments around data, and technologies that can unleash the
actual potential of data has in fact been phenomenal. The only other topic
which has gathered so much attention is probably where that data resides.
Statistics
reveal that more and more of that data is now residing on the cloud - quite
unsurprisingly. Imagine this: in just two years, public cloud storage spend is
estimated to reach the cross-over point of 51 percent by overtaking storage
systems spend for the first time ever!
Cloud
has been a strategic destination for storage for all types of organizations,
with the cloud storage cost continuing to decline. There has been as many as 67
price decreases in AWS storage since 2006!
On
one hand, the volume of data stored on cloud is growing at a humungous rate.
But, what about the other aspects of data lifecycle? Can organizations put
their data in the cloud and sit tight?
How
about data migration aspects, moving data securely across clouds, and
protecting/managing all that data?
All
of this is becoming great business opportunities for partners who have a cloud
play.
Businesses
are turning to cloud for virtually all of their modern enterprise business
processes. Here are some interesting numbers: by 2025, 80 percent of
enterprises will migrate entirely away from on-premise models and close their
on-premise data centers (Gartner). By 2020, 92 percent of workloads will be
processed by cloud data centers; just 8 percent will be processed by
traditional data centers (Cisco).
Very clearly, investments are shifting - from legacy/maintenance spend towards innovation spend. And cloud economics highly favours this shift.
Data management, a great starting point
Data
protection and backup is cited as the ‘most impactful cloud project on the
business’ by more than 75 percent of IT leaders in a Commvault survey conducted
earlier.
Cloud-first
and cloud-only strategies are thus becoming mainstream for data protections and
data management, including in markets like India.
There
are some highly compelling factors that drive this transition in the market.
Cost savings, to start with, is extremely appealing on a cloud model. Some of
the cloud-based products that we have in our portfolio offer up to 50 percent
TCO reduction for customers.
Besides,
the traditional methods like tape-based backup systems are gradually becoming
outdated as the volumes of data that need to be protected hit the roof.
Scalability is thus another driver towards cloud models. Data protection is in
fact one of the first IT functions to migrate to the cloud.
The
other factor, which I see having a very high impact on Indian organizations, is
how regulatory changes are going to drive data management models in the future.
I think in the next couple of years or so, many emerging markets like India
will have more definite privacy laws that mandate where and how data can be
processed and used. We witnessed a clear change post the introduction of GDPR itself—which
encouraged organizations to adhere and be more aware of data protection laws.
Cloud will emerge as a clear winner here, as organizations strive to sail
through regulatory changes.
Future is cloud
This
year, according to Garter, as many as 30 percent of mid-size organizations are
going the cloud way for backup—up from just 5 percent last year. Cloud will
undoubtedly emerge as the de-facto standard for data and related domains.
I
think the biggest competitive advantage for partners will be their ability to
add value at each stage of their customer’s cloud transition process. So it’s
important to have a holistic approach and an apt portfolio for cloud, to be
able to move away from a piecemeal approach to technology.
Every single organization is under some form of
cloud journey today. Quite a few of them would have started that journey with
storage and business continuity. But the journey will continue; so are the
opportunities for partners who make technology smarter, cheaper and easier to
use.