All businesses today create and manage enormous amounts of data. Many, though, find it increasingly difficult or realize their currently implemented data-related solutions and workflows are limiting.

Admittedly, finding the optimal balance between the best solutions for the collection and use of data and the required expenses is difficult. Still, realizing new opportunities for gathering and expanding the potential uses of data can help justify the costs.

Such a course of action may also demand companies rethink their data strategies to keep up with the ever-increasing data volume, variety, and velocity. The results are usually worth the needed planning, effort, and costs, by creating new opportunities for improving operations and developing new products and services.

That is, if they manage to escape Data Gravity's metaphorical "pull", that can limit data collection and use.

As evident by Digital Realty's Global Data Insights Survey 2022 Report, the above is but a snapshot of tomorrow's technological reality for every self-respecting business.

 

Data Rules

 

Digital Realty's Global Data Insights Survey revealed the five most prevalent themes in our modern data-centric world:

 

1. Pervasive Data

 

All businesses increasingly rely on and produce data.

  • The data creation rate for each business point will reach 1.5GB per second by 2024.
  • 70% of security products will integrate IT-OT-IoT systems by 2023.
  • 44% of over-$1B revenue companies have already decentralized their data architecture.

 

2. Data in Action

 

Data enables businesses to grow, optimize workflows, develop new products, and achieve goals.

Realizing the importance, the expanded accumulation and deeper analysis of data can bring to the table, most business leaders are already starting or expecting to increase their IT budgets. The equation justifying the rationale is simple: Data = Value. The increased budgets will enable:

  • Data analysis
  • Data insights for improving customer experience.
  • Strategic increase of IT investment to expand and improve business points of presence.

 

3. Limited Data

 

Despite data being the driving force at the core of every modern business, many companies meet significant obstacles in their attempts to gather, analyze, and use it.

Business leaders have identified three areas where they believe there is significant room for improvement:

  • Dealing with local regulations on data security, compliance, and sovereignty.
  • Convincing customers to share data.
  • Low investment in data and systems.

 

4. Data Everywhere

 

Even if a company manages to successfully produce, gather, and "make sense" of data, using it to both improve and drive business, eventually, a new limiting factor appears: all this data may be locked behind walls. "Walls" that may be digital or physical barriers (or both), restricting how data can be used and shared.

The solution is decentralization, but many fail to address it while planning their business strategy. 62% of over-$1B revenue companies already have their data distributed among more than 50 locations and/or colocation sites. Of those, 93% aim to add new business points of presence within the next two years.

Still, that does not mean "local" data should not be the focus. Far from it, by 2022, almost 90% of IT leaders are expected to maintain local copies of all their customer and transaction data for compliance.

 

5. Prioritizing Data

 

Data is one of the key elements for increasing value and driving growth.

Digital Realty's survey states that business leaders plan to improve data infrastructure, upskill data capabilities, and invest in Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning technologies by 2024.

 

Data Explosion

 

Digital Realty's survey renders one thing obvious: data is exploding. Every company already produces or will soon be outputting terabytes of data. "Data", which without the proper systems and methods for collection, analysis, and use as the knowledge base behind a business plan, can be the equivalent of useless noise.

It might be the best of times for recognizing the importance of data in a business. But it may also be the worst of times to postpone gathering, analyzing, and using that data for some unspecified time in the future.

Those who realize it will enter our modern age of data-driven wisdom. The few who do not may find themselves in a perpetual data-lacking winter of despair. Eager to know more about data, how can you manage your data efficiently? Contact our team of data center experts via this form.