Data Management in the Cloud

Unlocking data is key to competitive success

Last year Gartner estimated that 62% of IT budgets were allocated to Hybrid and Public Cloud services and by 2017 it’s estimated that nearly 50% of all organisations will have hybrid cloud deployments.

So why are businesses accelerating their cloud growth? The answer lies with data management and the benefits associated with it: increased profits, reduced costs and improved business agility.

These top line benefits are the catalyst to what we are calling ‘Cloud Megatrends’, the drivers behind the shift to cloud.

Megatrends Driving Cloud Transformation

(Source: Forrsights Survey)

It’s interesting to note that the top three cloud megatrends (business agility, IT development and speed of deployment) are all focused on driving profit – which is arguably more difficult to achieve. Where in reality, cost saving elements of cloud data management can be achieved overnight by taking advantage of cloud compute, cloud storage and modernisation & consolidation initiatives.

For those companies interested in the cost saving benefits of cloud data management, we would always recommend ‘dipping your toes in the water’ first. This can easily be done through Cloud Backup, Disaster Recovery and Test & Dev. We often find companies who do this first will grow in confidence, and then start to shift mission critical systems into the cloud too – what we call the ‘land and expand’ approach.

Getting ahead in the Clouds

Throughout all UK vertical markets, there is a real sense of urgency on driving competitive advantages from data management in the cloud and questions need to be asked on whether cloud compute is a good fit for your organisation.

Cloud data solutions will unquestionably reduce CapEx, bring predictably to OpEx and offer flexibility. These are the fundamental reasons why cloud data platforms are growing in popularity.

Gone are the days where real-world security, data privacy, and expected reliability and availability of cloud platforms would come into question.