Data volume has exploded all over the world - and in all sectors of business - but data management policies have not kept up with the change.
"We're seeing many mid-sized organisations with in excess of 100 Terabytes of data, where, up to very recently, this would have been typical of only the largest enterprises," says CommVault enterprise account manager Bryan Balfe.
Data storage is moving from the physical to the virtual and cloud space, and this creates complexity, specifically regarding disaster recovery (DR). The dramatic changes over the last few years in archiving, de-duplication and search functionality, combined with the use of multiple devices in the workplace, add another dimension of difficulty.
"Keep in mind that companies tend to keep everything, much of which is duplicated or fragmented data," says Balfe. "Adding to the problem is the pressure on CIOs and IT departments to ensure storage keeps pace with the explosion of data."
The tendency to segment DR as a separate silo in the business doesn't help the case, either. As Balfe points out: "This hinders an organisation's ability to really get to grips with data management as a whole."
The answer lies in a company's DR solution, he believes. "I see it as the only piece of this ever-increasingly complex puzzle that addresses the protection and management of an organisation's data assets," he says.
What to ask
Balfe has identified three pertinent questions that should form part of an organisation's DR strategy:
1. Do we know what to do in the event of a disaster?
IT and business remain unaligned with regards to what is thought possible and what is actually possible. The strategy has to be realistic and take into consideration all possible disasters - even those resulting in partial failure - and how each one will be dealt with. A recovery-point objective has to be identified. Legislation and retention policies have to be included.
2. How often do we test?
Constant partial testing is needed for today's dynamic business environments, especially in the virtual machine environment. Machines and staff change often enough that policies should be living, breathing documents that are revised and adapted on an ongoing basis.
3. Are we backing up too much?
It's estimated that 80% of an organisation's stored data is unstructured. Of that, 50% hasn't been accessed or modified in 18 months or more. That means the majority of time spent waiting for a restore to complete is wasted on the backing up of stale data. Data management is essential for reducing time and space and, ultimately, cost.
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