Incredible data growth makes SaaS data storage viable

The cost of bandwidth is a major stumbling block for online data back-up and recovery solutions, says Derek Friend, Country Manager StorVault Africa. “Managing costs is of prime concern in the data storage and recovery industry, as there is a very thin line between being competitive and running at a loss,” says Friend.

As data growth increases, so does the demand for data availability and recoverability. “Companies are becoming increasingly aware of growing business and regulatory demands, but it is not necessarily a focus point until a system failure occurs and precious data is lost. At this point it is simply too late to do anything about it,” explains Friend.

The question that every business owner, board member or CIO should ask, is how much it will cost the business in rands and cents, if it is unable to trade for an hour, a day or a week? “I am quite certain they will not like their own answers and should therefore seriously re-evaluate their existing back-up policies to see whether these can protect their mission-critical data and keep their businesses running seamlessly and efficiently,” says Friend.

The increasing awareness and value of a 'cloud' solution - or software as a service (SaaS) - is the most important development the data storage industry is experiencing at present. It effectively shifts the focus to the economies of scale that are inherent in these solutions, as a major Capital Expenditure (CAPEX) outlay can be avoided through virtualisation, which offers an Operational Expenditure (OPEX) instead. The incredible data explosion that we have seen in the last few years lends itself to an environment where SaaS becomes a viable option that will meet the client's growing expectations of having on-demand solutions that can restore their data in the quickest possible time with minimal interruptions,” says Friend.

“I cannot stress enough, the importance of ensuring the sufficiency of an organisation's data storage strategy, and for that reason I recommend a regular audit to ensure that all the elements are in place and functional,” concludes Friend.