data has become a critical component for businesses in every sector, yet many struggle when it comes to extracting full value from it.
This is an odd situation when you consider just how powerful data can be. Used effectively, it can guide corporate strategies, improve levels of customer service, and add directly to the bottom line. Indeed, according to research by the US-based Boston Consulting Group, the combination of data and advanced analytics could unlock more than $US 1 trillion in new value this year alone.
Unfortunately, however, unlocking this value from data is proving something of a challenge. This is because a large proportion of data held within organisations is stored (or even trapped) in infrastructure silos located both on-premises and in cloud-based platforms. This situation not only means the data difficult to manage, but it also makes deriving value from the data very complex.
Recent research has highlighted the extent of the challenge. A report by Vanson Bourne, commissioned by Cohesity, found 85% of Australian businesses store data between two and five public clouds. Some 44% of businesses use six or more tools to attempt to manage these fragmented sources while one in 10 make use of 11 or more management solutions. That’s hardly efficient.  Reactive rather than proactive
This is not a situation that has occurred overnight. Indeed, for years many organisations have taken a piecemeal approach to backing up, storing, analysing, and attempting to manage data.
Extra resources – both human and infrastructure, often in the form of pricey legacy hardware products -- have been added to solve a particular problem or issue short-term with little thought being given to a long-term, company-wide data management strategy. This has led to widespread data fragmentation and increasing management overheads.Â
Data fragmentation also has an impact on data quality and reliability. Staff often find there are multiple versions of files stored in different locations and are unsure which one is up to date. Getting the elusive ‘single version of the truth’ is little more than a dream for many people.
This problem is particularly acute when it comes to data held in things such as backups, archives, file shares and object stores.
