In-depth

Three keys to successful data management

Companies need to take a fresh look at data management to realise its true value

3 Jan 2018

As businesses generate, accumulate and store an ever-increasing amount of data in numerous different systems, effective data management is becoming more important to ensure that data is available when and where it's needed.

Data is growing at a rate of 39% per year, according to a recent report by storage vendor Veritas that was based on a study of 86% of Fortune 500 companies. It found that enterprises are left in a position where they have to deal with the result of this exponential increase of all types of data, and work out how to store and manage it effectively.

Technology enablement is a vital part of addressing the burgeoning data issue, including changes to the IT organisation and business processes. This data is what drives digital transformation, with a 2016 study by the Digital Enterprise Journal finding that the data layer is seen as the top enabler of digital transformation, followed by integration technologies.

As part of their digital transformation strategy, companies should include a fresh look at enterprise data management to address questions around storing stale data, and to ensure they have ready access to truly valuable data.

Achieving this requires addressing three key capabilities:

Optimised data access

Enterprise data management should ensure users have seamless, secure access to whatever data they need, no matter where it may be physically stored. It also needs policy-based contextual awareness to deal with data across its lifecycle, so you're no longer storing data that no one needs.

Data visibility

Global data visibility and control of data is another crucial element, and it must be independent of any application or storage location. That means data should be visible regardless of whether it's stored on an in-house storage array or associated with a cloud-based application. There should also be absolute clarity on who has access to and ownership of all data to manage risk.

Service durability

Enterprises need to ensure data is always protected and available by making the end-to-end service infrastructure across their different landscapes resilient, along with making sure this infrastructure can quickly rebound from any service disruption.

The unprecedented growth in data demands that organisations take a fresh look at enterprise data management. It's imperative not only to get costs under control, but to provide the sort of data visibility, resiliency, protection and optimised access that's required if enterprises are to make effective use of their data.