Michael Jack, CRO and Co-Founder, Datadobi, tells us that maximizing scarce data storage resources can often feel like an overwhelming challenge for CIOs but effective data management can lead to progressive business and organizational benefits.
As Digital Transformation tightens its grip on enterprise IT organizations around the globe, 2022 promises to be yet another challenging year on the often-arduous road to becoming a modern data center. Data center resource optimization will be top of mind for IT leaders and CIOs alike as converging demands on IT resources continue to multiply in volume and fluctuate in priority.
Not for the faint of heart, anyone who’s worked in IT recognizes resource management and budget allocation is often a mind-bending exercise of meticulous granularity, based on data-driven insights. Maximizing IT infrastructure and every resource under the data center umbrella is arguably more important than ever.
The rapid rise in unstructured data and infrastructure complexity pushes IT’s agenda
Unsurprisingly, infrastructure complexity only continues to grow. According to a Gartner research report: “By 2025, 85% of infrastructure strategies will integrate on-premises, colocation, cloud and edge delivery options, compared with 20% in 2020.”
Simultaneously, researchers are observing the rapid rise of unstructured data and its challenges. Research firm IDC acknowledges: ”The lion’s share of data that will be captured, stored, protected and analyzed going forward will be unstructured.”
Maintaining the least restrictive, most cost-effective balance of budget and assets while anticipating potential roadblocks is a near surgical process. IT leaders are tasked with maneuvering through the perpetual gauntlet of competing budget allocations, complex project demands and changing procurement requests for core data center infrastructure components, while simultaneously vetting viable solutions to address pop-up data management setbacks without sending their data center costs spiraling out of control.
Cost control or out of control in 2022
The interminable growth of unstructured data can unnerve even the best data center managers. Nevertheless, these leaders must endeavor to achieve the best possible operating environments for their organizations.
The brilliance of the evolving data center is its ostensibly unlimited, customizable possibilities. It has the ability to quickly integrate new technology and automation to create a highly efficient operating environment to usher in optimized budgets, easier execution and significantly higher reliability.
As unique as fingerprints, there is no one-size-fits-all enterprise data center. An organization’s IT infrastructure may utilize on-premises options, colocation, edge or micro data centers, cloud service providers or a full-bodied hybrid model.
Cloud solutions offer many benefits such as speed, performance and scalability. Consequently, cloud transformation continues to be a primary tool for reducing costs in the data center. Nevertheless, in most enterprises, the on-premises data center remains as mission-critical control tower for overall management of the many data management puzzle pieces whereas cloud will likely maintain a dependance on the on-premises data center for its success.
Much thought has been given to the future of IT and all arrows point to the hybrid data center and hybrid cloud as the most resilient framework for the future data center fabric. As such, IT leaders are tasked with ascertaining the right balance for meeting traditional on-premises compute requirements while weaving in support from cloud and off-premises models, as needed for full-scale performance and greatest cost benefit.
Easy ways to increase data center efficiencies
Planning resource allocation to take advantage of new technology and the cloud during upgrades/phase outs is a never-ending process of inventory management and careful analysis of evolving demands. Data center equipment usage balance can change regularly, especially when juggling cloud storage/compute operations. However, even incremental optimizations can eliminate data center inefficiencies.
Integrate cloud into your data center. Migrating data to the cloud has become fast and highly automated while bringing immediate benefits to the data center. Unlimited scalability, cost-efficiency, security and Disaster Recovery are common reasons for supplementing on-premises infrastructure by extending the data center upward. Accessibility for collaborative multi-user environments and file-sharing increase usability, mobility of an organization’s data, and bring convenience and automation into the mix making cloud a highly flexible asset.
Don’t underestimate technology refreshes. Automate where possible. ‘Tech refreshes’ are often under-utilized or overdue in many resource-strained data centers yet are the key to maintaining a most efficient, cost-effective, time saving environment for IT personnel. Regularly updating key elements of an organization’s IT infrastructure can maximize system performance and productivity, boost system functionality and scalability, increase energy efficiency, and free up IT staff’s time to focus on the more mission critical operations while also providing a higher level of services to both internal and external stakeholders.
Quit ignoring your ROT data. Like most of us, with constantly busy schedules IT teams can tend to put off ‘cleaning out the closet’. Many data centers are still stuffed full of unorganized ROT (redundant, obsolete, or trivial) data. Moreover, clinging to ROT data out of convenience or fear of losing information which may no longer have business or legal value is a highly inefficient use of an organization’s scarce data storage resources. It can create excess cost, hinder compliance regulation, and prevent employees from quickly accessing information. Likewise, it can comprise a significant percentage of the total data stored. Systematically evaluating which data may seem low priority but it is necessary to free up valuable space that drains IT budget.
Maximizing scarce data storage resources amid increasing demands on IT budgets can often feel like an overwhelming challenge to enterprise CIOs and IT leaders. Personnel have to ascertain the right solution to link the many disparate parts of the modern data center puzzle together and it requires a cohesive, integrated action plan. A well-balanced, iteratively flexible yet battle-hardened data management solution can truly harness the power of unstructured data and enable IT leaders to deliver tangible, forward thinking business and organizational benefits while operating within budget constraints in 2022 and beyond.
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