The benefits of storage investment

Taveesak Saengthong, Thailand Country Manager of Hitachi Data Systems

This argument takes a newer meaning in the current economic conditions. Many companies have become conservative and reluctant to spend. However, reduction should not be the only plan as maximising each dollar spent is equally important for ushering in positive changes.

Change doesn't happen just because we have great technology. It happens because of leaders who have the clarity of vision to see storage technology as an agent for business improvement and change, and have the leadership skills to apply new technologies to real business problems.

Currently, chief information officers are caught up in a classic situation where they have to cut costs and expand the business as well. This dichotomy is better managed with a clear understanding of the business environment, the costs incurred and the implementation of solutions that provide a means to effectively maximise organisational performance.

Dramatically increasing amounts of data, the increased importance of data to business, the rising management costs of increasingly complex storage networks and increasing pressure to hold or reduce IT costs leaves a chief information officer little room for waste or error. The universal commandment for today and the foreseeable future comprises three very difficult challenges: reduce costs, reduce complexity and improve quality of service.

Because of the way storage is packaged, businesses end up buying up to 75 per cent more capacity than they actually need. Of course, the many different business units in a given organisation may not want to share storage, so they purchase their own through project-based acquisitions, and from a variety of different vendors. The result is a confusing tangle of massively underutilised storage assets and "stranded storage," which are a waste of already shrinking budgets. Ultimately, coping with exploding data requirements by simply purchasing more storage can lead to very costly consequences. 

This is the first of a three-part series. Parts two and three will be published soon.