
Virtualization and Cloud executives share their predictions for 2015. Read them in this VMblog.com series exclusive.
Contributed article by Jeff Boehm, vice president of marketing at DataGravity
What smarter storage trends mean for IT in 2015
There's a common thread in the news and trends that gripped us in 2014:
despite the industry's best efforts, our data could not always be maintained.
"Big data" was one of the year's top buzz phrases, maintaining its presence in
our business decisions and conversations with colleagues, customers and
partners. However, we also started seeing the dark underside that can accompany
large amounts of amassed data and the risks to compliance and privacy if that
data isn't properly managed.
Over the year, whether dark data posed risks to unknowing
organizations, a lack of intelligence and analytics led to unforeseen costs and
lulls in productivity, or sensitive data was exposed to the public domain and
its security was compromised, many news stories in IT and beyond seemed to
reaffirm the industry's need for intelligent storage and governance policies.
Thankfully, with this need fully recognized and a market for solutions to these
problems established, 2015 is on track to become the year these issues are
solved.
Below are the top trends we expect will take shape in 2015, some of
which we've already started to see:
People will expect more of their storage.
Let's be honest; you didn't buy your smartphone just to make calls.
Across a business and around the home, devices and technology are becoming more
intelligent and more capable of delivering new insights that make owners' lives
easier. Our thermostats, refrigerators, cars and watches have increasing
compute power that helps them collect data, learn our behaviors and adjust
their own in order to better complement our routines and goals. Just as users
now expect these devices to offer a rich set of features beyond basic
functions, IT will soon expect primary storage platforms to support analytics,
governance and more.
One of the top drivers in this shift in thinking is an increased focus
on education within IT. Companies are learning to ask targeted questions of
their data in order to shed light on insights that measurably improve business,
and those who have not yet adopted data-aware technologies are recognizing the
impact of new innovations in the IT industry. As business intelligence and the
ability to derive insights from data becomes a built-in part of the storage
experience, IT professionals and business users will use these new features to
help customers, partners and employees better understand the implications and
potential of stored data.
Dormant data will no longer be a hindrance.
Most people come to a point in life when they realize it's easier to go
to the doctor for a standard checkup before they're forced to go when a problem
becomes unbearable, and the same concept is being applied to the data center.
Dark data, or the files, messages and information in dormant storage on company
servers and devices, was once seen as a hindrance to an organization and a
drain on its expenses. Now, it's becoming an active concern.
Dark data can include elements that pose serious security and
compliance risks for the company, but the company has no way to uncover those
risks until it's too late. To proactively manage this untouched information,
companies are beginning to employ best practices for data governance and
implement routine data maintenance procedures.
IT will get serious about compliance and security.
Business, IT and even consumer news in 2014 was peppered with security
breaches, violated protocols and cyberattacks launched against individuals and
enterprises alike. In 2015, companies will be more prepared with the resources they
need to identify, manage and prevent these issues. In particular, IT and
business leaders will be more mindful of the risks that can begin before their
eyes.
Companies will now pay closer attention to which users have access to
certain files, and what power those users have to edit, share or manage files.
This will extend beyond an organization's walls to include every member of its
ecosystem, from channel partners to end users. Did an employee leave the
company after mistakenly storing financial information in the public domain?
Did a customer support interaction with a customer involve the transfer of
personally identifiable information (PII) that was not properly encrypted after
it was shared? To respond to these potential violations in security,
organizations will strengthen ongoing governance strategies and careful data
analysis, and enable every employee to function as a data detective.
IT is climbing the corporate ladder.
Data-aware storage is taking insights traditionally confined in a
company's back room and moving them to the executive board room. Data is now
recognized as one of an organization's most strategic assets, and IT teams -
the stewards for that data - have become the providers of a critical business
function. As a result, business leaders will no longer see IT teams merely as
providers of services and support for line-of-business (LOB) applications. Instead,
they will begin to recognize IT's role in assisting LOB users and the business
as a whole.
New awareness around data security will also play a role in this shift
in perception. Since the consequences of outdated storage and governance have a
widespread effect on an organization, from its customers to its professional
contacts, the responsibility to recover from an outage or breach is similarly
distributed across employees and management levels. In 2015, all eyes will be
on IT to lead the way into a data-aware future that can provide security for
every professional who is looking for it.
Beyond the storage industry, 2015 looks to be a rich year full of
advancements and innovation, as well as surprises. We're looking forward to
reading how it is defined by its headlines, as well as the industry's attitudes
toward them. Until this new culture takes shape, we know that the one thing we
can count on is that this will be the year IT demands more of its storage and
receives business insights from its data.
##
About the Author
Jeff Boehm is the vice president
of marketing at DataGravity. Jeff brings
more than 20 years of experience with a rare combination of marketing skills,
organizational leadership and technical background to DataGravity. Having
shaped the business intelligence and search markets working for industry
pioneers and disrupters, Jeff is excited to be redefining the storage market.