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Optimizing data storage
Wendy Lucas
Over the years, storage technology has become increasingly important. It now plays a huge role in an organization's ability to adapt quickly to challenges such as mounting competition and increasing sensitivity to customer demands.
Procurement and purchasing managers recognize the need to develop more responsive and flexible IT infrastructures, but they're under constant pressure to keep an eye on the bottom line.
Risk management issues and regulatory requirements add another layer of complexity to data storage. Companies must carefully consider legislation such as Sarbanes-Oxley and Basel II, which govern the storage, availability and disposal of information.
Data must be stored securely, and in a fashion that allows organizations to quickly and accurately retrieve it. If they can't, they risk the costly and potentially damaging consequences of non-compliance.
It's challenging to manage all these issues while meeting the ongoing business demands for improved operational processes and customer service. In order to succeed, it's critical to look beyond capacity and cost and take a more holistic approach to data storage.
Identify and evaluate
As a good starting point, purchasers and IT professionals should conduct a full data assessment to get a clear picture of the organization's storage environmentt, including software, hardware, policies and procedures. An in-depth analysis of the current infrastructure will help identify any capacity and resource constraints.
Few companies can afford the luxury of storing all their data in a manner that makes it highly accessible and immediately recoverable. Instead of striving to store everything, managers must carefully assess the value of information, since it varies for every organization.
For example, a large pharmaceutical company would consider a list of its suppliers as mission-critical information. On the other hand, an investment firm would likely view its transaction data as mission-critical. Each one faces different types of regulatory demands, which should be carefully reviewed and incorporated into the assessment process.
As data ages, its value to an organization diminishes, along with the need to frequently and quickly access it. When developing plans for identifying and tracking the changing value of data and storing it appropriately, it's helpful to remember data storage requirements are constantly changing.
Align
An effective data storage management strategy aligns the value of data with business processes, ensuring the right individuals have access to the critical data they need--when they need it.
The importance of information changes as it flows through an organization. For example, consider a customer order and how the value of this data changes as it moves through an automated supply chain. Once the order has been fulfilled and the billing process is complete, the order data, while still required for accounting purposes, might be less critical than it was before it shipped.
IT staff and purchasers responsible for buying storage systems must continuously review the way people in their organizations use and interact with information.It's impossible to automate and increase efficiencies in data storage without this alignment.
Allocate and control
By viewing data more strategically and assessing its relative value, accessibility, security and overall lifecycle, managers and administrators will better align these requirements with available storage options.
The more 'mission critical' the data, the more redundancy, robustness, and security required. Obviously, the most expensive solutions per terabyte also offer the highest availability. These include direct-attached storage (DAS), network-attached storage (NAS) and storage area networks (SANs). Secondary storage solutions such as on-line tape and DVD are less expensive and may be used for less critical data. Finally, for information with less stringent retrieval requirements, there's another class of storage solutions consisting of magnetic and optical storage stored off-line and even off-site.
Classifying storage and information assets based on their inherent business value and understanding what options are available will help purchasing managers achieve better control and cost management. It can also provide valuable insight into future investments. The focus should not necessarily be on the adoption of new technologies, but how existing and new technologies can evolve as their organization grows.
Monitor and predict
Organizations should also invest in storage technology tools and software to monitor their entire storage environment and utilization. This practice enables IT managers to identify performance problems and reduce downtime due to capacity shortages.
Most importantly, it allows organizations to better predict future growth and storage demands, so they can plan and respond to performance and capacity requirements.
Ultimately, managers and administrators must change the way they think about storage. They need to carefully assess the value of information over time and get an end-to-end view of their organization to ensure their investments in data storage will grow with their business.
Wendy Lucas, based in Mississauga, Ont., is senior vice-president of sales and integrated solutions with NexInnovations, a national IT consulting company providing infrastructure, deployment and support expertise.
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