The value of data is growing constantly and delivering unprecedented insights. Enterprises that maximize this value are treating data as a differentiated and prized asset.
Imagine a Chief Financial Officer aligning budgets without knowing the contribution of information assets to business performance, valuation, and M&A outcomes. Or a Chief Information Officer trying to define an information strategy that does not take into account the value of that information. Or a Chief Marketing Officer trying to define a digital experience strategy without distilling the consumer insights available across functions within and outside the organization.
Data value today is an asset – a prized property. It has a certain value basis which enterprises can make appropriate investment decisions to support their data. It has become a key input for driving growth, enabling businesses to differentiate themselves and maintain a competitive edge.
Given the growing importance of data to companies, it is imperative for IT and business leaders to measure its value.
What is your data worth?
Data by itself is worthless unless we can derive information from it that guides us towards better decisions, and ultimately, better outcomes.
Many large global corporations weave data into every function of the organization. They not only use data to record what has transpired, but also use it to predict and drive transformative disruptive changes at alarming speeds. And yet how many companies are listing their data as tangible corporate asset on their balance sheet?
Companies need to understand both the value of their existing data assets and the underlying levers that can increase data value.
While everybody agrees that good, clean data is a must have, many organizations do little to nothing to remedy their data misalignment. They run a periodic clean-up exercise only to find themselves in the same mess a year later. This, in turn, can mean missing out on the competitive advantages and shareholder value that data assets can generate.
In order to capture and harvest the value of data over time, organizations must first seek clarity on how to value data as an asset, then follow through with a comprehensive data strategy to drive value enhancement.
The movement to smarten up every aspect of IT infrastructure and find the real value of data, rolls ever onward, from servers to the network to storage.
Switching from traditional to Software-Defined Storage
With demands for agility and capacity, storage systems cannot exist in islands. As organizations contend with the never-ending tsunami of data, more and more IT leaders are turning toward cost-effective software-defined infrastructure, like Software-Defined Storage (SDS) to manage the complexities of storing, accessing, sharing and protecting data at scale.
Opting for a software-defined solution is an excellent way to deliver centralized intelligence into the datacenter. SDS separates “intelligence”—i.e., software—from devices. It achieves this by moving the intelligence and functionality away from storage hardware and onto an independent software layer. This results in reduction of administrative tasks, and businesses can leverage automated policies in their storage plan, letting them respond quickly as storage requirements shift.
SDS also plays a critical role in preventing the damage caused by cyberattacks. With features like encryption, auditing and virus detection, unwanted access to data can be detected and if needed, interrupted. Furthermore, copies of data can be protected through ‘air gap’ measures that physically separate data, such as exporting copies off-site to locations that cannot be accessed online.
Western Digital: Accelerating business momentum with SDS
With a proven track record of adoption into software-defined and big-data environments, Western Digital has an extensive product portfolio that is suited for SDS based data infrastructure. It offers a complete storage portfolio that provides the foundational building blocks for high-performance, data-intensive software-defined storage, hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI), and edge environments.
Western Digital’s Ultrastar® Data60 and Ultrastar Data102 hybrid storage platforms are key elements of next-generation disaggregated storage and SDS systems. These are high-density and high-capacity JBODs. The Ultrastar Serv24-A storage server and Ultrastar Serv60+8 hybrid storage server are also built with SDS in mind.
Western Digital has also been collaborating with CEPH-based and other open source SDS solution providers to ensure that their devices are compatible to offer the right kind of solution. They are looking to create a lineup of products that can be key elements of next-generation disaggregated storage and SDS systems.
Its OpenFlex™ Data24 NVMe-oF™ Storage Platform, built to deliver high availability and enterprise-class reliability, extends the high performance of NVMe™ flash to shared storage.
The ever-increasing flow of data in enterprises has established the need for dynamic storage solutions that can help enterprises meet their next-generation storage needs within the confines of current infrastructure capabilities. Thinking of data as a real asset can guide the formation of a cohesive data strategy that can deliver real value in support of business goals.
