Medium-sized companies should take business as well as technological considerations into account when selecting suitable storage solutions.
Technological specifications alone mean little in comparison to how these specifications support business in the idiosyncratic mid-market environment.
This is the view of Sandy Purbrick, general manager at Business Connexion's Johannesburg regional office. "Storage has nothing to do with technology, and everything to do with information life cycle management. Within the context of information life cycle management, it is crucial for clients to have a holistic view of technological requirements," he says.
Purbrick points out that medium-sized businesses are becoming increasingly dependent on technology. "In the past, these companies could probably get by with a fax and a PABX; today it is essential for them to be online and responsive to their clients' needs," he says.
The reasons for this are rooted in the nature of medium-sized organisations, which operate in niche environments and rely on special skills sets and knowledge to add value to large corporations. The mid-market businesses, which cater to the demands of large businesses, are therefore hungriest for effective technological solutions to be able to meet their clients' service expectations.
Underpinning any technological demands is the need for storage. Storage architecture is particularly crucial to medium-sized businesses as they are less likely to recover from a loss of data than large enterprises.
Given the characteristics of mid-market businesses, a particular set of requirements needs to be considered when implementing storage solutions. "Flexibility, ease of use, integrated solutions, support from a partner that understands the growing needs of the business, and value for money are the things that medium-sized businesses want from a storage solution. Mobility is another important factor. Many users want to be able to access information anytime, from anywhere," says Purbrick.
Common to all of these is a need for a solution that can withstand change. Many mid-market businesses have a higher rate of growth than large businesses, with some growing by as much as 30% to 50% year-on-year. In line with business growth is an increase in storage requirements. As such, having a partner that can grow with the business and adapt its storage solutions is essential to its success.
"What will differentiate one service provider from the next in a very competitive market will be the ability to understand a client's business requirements and to integrate a solution into the existing IT framework," says Purbrick.
The main architectural storage options for the mid-market business extend to storage area networks (SANs) and network attached storage (NAS), both of which address the issue of scalability. Many large vendors have assessed the needs of medium-sized businesses and come up with solutions tailored to these needs. For example, some vendors have developed storage solutions to support SAP's 'All in One' package for small and medium enterprises.
Purbrick says another trend in storage provision might be hardware and software companies collaborating to develop storage systems.
According to Purbrick, however, the Holy Grail is storage on demand, but this is unlikely to become a realistic solution for medium-sized businesses until the prohibitively high cost of telecommunications in South Africa is lowered.
The attraction of storage on demand to medium-sized businesses is clear: when storage space is 'rented', a business does not need to spend large amounts of capital, but instead can spend on storage as and when the business grows. Thus storage becomes an operational rather than capital expense.
Purbrick notes that businesses should anticipate the day when storage on demand becomes financially viable, and partner with a company that has developed or is developing the capability to provide on-demand storage in the future.
"Mid-market businesses need scalable storage solutions, which can be upgraded with a minimum of disruption to business, but they also need to work with a systems integrator who understands the bigger picture and can keep one eye on the future," he concludes.
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