In 2021, it is highly likely that we will witness three major shifts in technology that will impact data management and storage solutions. None are brand new, but all are accelerating at speed. In this article, we unpack Data Storage and Data Management from within.
Werner Herbst, General Manager, Enterprise Compute, Tarsus Distribution
Every decade, IT sees a significant change in infrastructure that affects applications and the underlying resources they depend upon. Server virtualisation was followed by public cloud services and now we are seeing IT move entirely to the cloud.
We are living in an environment where everything needs to move to the cloud, whether at a home or business user level. This speaks to the ongoing need for speed and efficiency.
If you place a food order, for example, you want to see how long it takes to prepare, when it is ready, and when it’s on the way to you. This on-demand economy has made us impatient and expectant.
Similarly, in the workplace, a cloud-based information system allows employees access to information in a well-presented digital format that is easy to use. Cloud-native computing is the latest wave of digital disruption, and it is making the cloud – whether on- or off-premises, or hybrid, a force for creating business value. Unlocking the benefits of the cloud will result in higher agility, speed to innovation, and lower IT costs for business. On the other hand, companies that delay the move to the cloud will find themselves falling behind their competitors more quickly than ever.
Data is increasingly being decentralised. This means that instead of data being located in a single central storage system, connected servers communicate with each other to provide the requested data. Decentralised systems do not have any centralised storage and all the shared data is distributed between the nodes within a particular network.
There are many benefits to sharing the load between several computers. Decentralised systems are self-sufficient and self-regulating, which means they are also protected against attacks and human error. Because pressure does not fall on one single server, decentralised networks can cope with significant overload when necessary.
For organisations, the other benefit of decentralisation is that they pay for only the portion of the server that they use. In time, as greater confidence develops, even bigger institutions like banks will begin to see the return on investment in decentralisation.
Given the first two trends, it makes sense that we will witness an increasingly rapid development of the underlying technology that businesses depend on to store and manage their data.
As the pandemic swept across the globe, and many business owners and employees began working remotely or from home, it became clear that it was possible to continue to run a business from anywhere. Cloud accounting, for example, has given employees the same functionality as desktop accounting but moved the whole process to the cloud. When the user logs in, it is always to an up-to-date online solution and all data is safely stored on a cloud server.
The bottom line is that no matter the size of your business, cloud services can modernise your IT environment and accelerate digital transformation.
Perhaps the most compelling case for adopting IT-as-a-service, which is really what the move to the cloud is all about, is access to scalability-on-demand, to everything-as-a-service, and to the cost containment that comes along with those benefits. In addition to flexibility, the total cost of ownership is reduced as is a capital expense. In the current economy, that should be music to anyone’s ears.
What to know more about decentralised computing? Click here to read a great article we found on why it makes sense.