Although the cloud has been with us for some time, it is only since the shift to remote working that most people have realised just how indispensable it has become. Virtually everything we do today – from remote collaboration to using Netflix – leverages the cloud and thus requires processing power.
Moreover, any time such a meeting is recorded, or someone downloads a film or saves a photo to their Google account, storage is required. The implementation of legislation like POPIA and GDPR further requires organisations to store specific data for lengthy periods. There can thus be little doubt that our storage needs are growing exponentially.
Werner Herbst, GM for Enterprise Compute at Tarsus Distribution, suggests that storage has never been more critical in our content-focused society, and our need for it is increasing all the time. Luckily, he says, we also have the solutions to solve this challenge.
“There are an increasing number of options that can now be acquired as a service, from music to movies and TV shows, as the option to pay as you need, without having to pay for it when you don’t use, is very enticing. In the business world, there is already a growing move to adopt software, infrastructure and platforms as a service, so why not storage as well?”
“For businesses whose storage needs are growing rapidly, leaving them in the predicament of not knowing how much they will need in future, storage as a service (STaaS) offers the scalability they need to dispel such concerns. Obviously, this brings with it benefits like accurate billing, switching from a capex to an opex model, and add-on security functionality that complies with the various acts,” he notes.
Herbst adds that by adopting a STaaS model, the organisation effectively hands the challenge of a sudden surge in storage requirements over to the service provider.
“Another benefit here is that STaaS is obviously cloud-based, and for companies seeking to take advantage of big data and analytics to improve their business or customer service, having your data stored in the cloud makes it much easier to analyse to achieve such goals.”
“Remember that critical data in an organisation is usually kept in disparate systems and locations across an enterprise, so a STaaS solution is key in bringing together the data usually kept on these ‘islands’, or at least in allowing them to be managed together should there be a need to keep the data separate for security reasons.”
He explains that STaaS allows the enterprise to obtain a complete picture of its data and enables ease of use, compliance and security under a single umbrella. On top of this, leveraging analytics is easy in order to drive business insights and thus improve both the organisation and its services, leading to cost savings and increased revenue.
“Obviously, connectivity is critical to the ‘as a service’ environment and is the heartbeat of any organisation, as demonstrated by the fact that the largest IT spend post-lockdown has been on network implementations and improvements,” continues Herbst.
“The connectivity lessons learned from the recent work from home phenomenon demonstrate that the rise of collaboration tools – which are undoubtedly here to stay – mean that many networks need to be improved to handle this kind of traffic. And don’t forget that once we are all back in the office, company networks may need to handle hundreds of employees simultaneously using these tools.”
This need to improve connectivity and corporate networks has played directly into the hands of the growing STaaS movement, he adds, pointing out that since the upgrades need to be undertaken anyway, it makes shifting to this model almost a no-brainer.
“STaaS is thus perfectly positioned to meet the market demands for rapidly growing storage – offering customers flexibility, scalability and cost efficiencies in a secure manner,” concludes Herbst.
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