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8 Data and Protection Trends to Keep on Your Radar for 2023

By Russ Kennedy, chief product officer, Nasuni

With the calendar turning to 2023, it's a natural time to speculate about the trends that will shape our world in the new year. Here's a look at some of the developments we see on the horizon.

Remote Reality

Many employers initially hoped a return to the office would materialize post-COVID, but they have finally acknowledged - sometimes reluctantly - that remote and hybrid work arrangements are here to stay. Research from Gartner indicates that just over half of the workforce now expect a hybrid schedule that allows them to work remotely at least part of the time, and one in four workers foresee a fully remote schedule. Those figures are only going to climb as time goes on, so accept the reality and figure out how to make data access and protection work for remote and hybrid workers.

Anywhere Access Creates New Challenges

Obviously, the need to access data from anywhere, at any time, isn't going away. In fact, the ability to collaborate across locations and with external partners increases exponentially with a widely distributed workforce. This puts intense pressure on legacy file access systems and technology stacks. There's growing demand for centralized data custodians who can facilitate easy, high-performance access and sharing of data for users working remotely, whether at home or in branch offices that may not have strong connectivity and related infrastructure. A custodian must also be prepared to protect data, ensuring security in an increasingly dangerous cyberworld, while providing for rapid recovery if the need arises.

Ransomware Runs Rampant

Protecting data is harder than ever with ransomware on the rise. Surveys indicate organizations of all types and sizes have already been attacked. In 2023, it will not be a matter of "if" a company will fall prey, it'll be a matter of "when." What's more, hackers are continually coming up with more aggressive and sophisticated schemes. Businesses need to plan for the worst case. Traditional backups cannot be counted upon to get your organization back up and running quickly. This is why many victims pay exorbitant ransoms to decrypt data quickly; a shutdown of weeks or months would cost them even more, while damaging their reputation and shaking customer confidence. That said, the ability to rapidly recover from an attack will become a huge competitive differentiator.

Cloud Backups Gain Traction

The proliferation of data and the move to distributed operations has made it clear that traditional on-premises backups are no longer a viable option. As a result, cloud-based storage systems are becoming increasingly common. The advantages are numerous. Storing data in the cloud as read-only, immutable objects allows for extremely rapid recovery, which is why it will soon become standard practice. In a sense, this is similar to air-gapped physical backups that are not connected to the network, but today's cloud version offers far faster recovery than traditional backups could ever achieve.

Organizations Strive for Resiliency

Disruptions of all types are becoming everyday events - ranging from cyberattacks to weather-related crises, power outages, energy shortages, supply chain snarls and more. Businesses must brace for the unexpected, crafting strategies that will enable them to weather storms, both literal and virtual. Strategies should address the growth in remote work and partnerships with more external providers. The goal should be identifying and resolving vulnerabilities with enhanced security measures that take advantage of cloud technologies.

Businesses Stress Speedy Recovery

Rapid recovery from attacks and disasters, natural or man-made, will be a top goal for more organizations in 2023. Any delay puts critical data at risk and takes a serious toll on productivity. The ideal is a system that provides frequent, unlimited snapshots of files as recovery points. This enables IT to revert to clean data captured just moments before an incident, rather than sacrificing many volumes of data needlessly in an attempt to figure out when the breach began infecting files. This approach ensures business continuity for today's data-heavy enterprises.

Machine-Generated Data Looms Large

Data is steadily proliferating, and enterprises are struggling to manage, organize and access it efficiently in order to optimize its value. Data analytics can support smart decisions and actionable insights. The next development is an increase in machine-generated data from devices such as CT scanners, which are expanding beyond medical uses into manufacturing. Scanners are enabling businesses to quickly identify defects in equipment, and in tandem with cloud technology, allow for faster, more efficient solutions. Rather than having experts travel to a distant location to repair problems, or ship devices across the country or world, businesses can troubleshoot problems by sharing data over the cloud. We expect accelerated adoption of scanners and CT equipment as critical data sources in the next year. New applications like these will expand the already sizable data footprint and underscore the need for organizations to deploy secure file data storage systems that harness all the latest technologies.

Efficiency Becomes Paramount

With experts predicting the current unsettled, inflationary economy could persist in 2023, there's an urgent need to focus on efficiency and economy - without compromising data management. Organizations are exploring new, more cost-efficient ways to manage and protect data while expanding access. Technology can be invaluable in transforming data management, creating strong demand for innovative systems that are both economical and highly effective.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR  

Russ Kennedy drives product innovation at Nasuni, leading the company’s product management, planning, and roadmap efforts. He has a maniacal focus on ensuring Nasuni customers derive maximum benefit from our technology.

Russ is a well-known and highly regarded storage industry executive, with more than 25 years of experience developing software and hardware solutions to address exponential data growth. Before Nasuni, Russ directed product strategy at private cloud object storage pioneer Cleversafe through its $1.3 billion acquisition by IBM. While Russ was helping transition the product to what is now IBM Cloud Object Storage (COS), he began working with IBM partner Nasuni, and became convinced Nasuni’s cloud-native global file system is the only data management technology that truly exploits the strengths of object storage.

Earlier in his career, Russ served in a variety of product management and development roles, most notably at StorageTek (acquired by Sun Microsystems), where he brought several industry-leading products to market.

An avid cyclist and hiker, Russ resides in Boulder, Colorado with his family. He has a BS degree in Computer Science from Colorado State University and an MBA degree from the University of Colorado.