Insight on how businesses plan to manage data going forward - Survey

Global Frost - Sullivan analysis reveals businesses top priorities in data use and management.

Frost - Sullivan found in a recently conducted analysis, that organisations worldwide are more inclined to invest in hybrid and multi-cloud IT environments that support users, applications, and data spread across diverse locations.

The research and consulting firm found as businesses recover from the impact of COVID-19, their top goals include improving efficiency, productivity, and customer experience, and that they increasingly rely on data.

According to the analysis, Internet of Things (IoT) connected devices across the globe are expected to exceed 66 billion in 2026 at a compound annual growth rate of nearly 15% from 2017.

"Robust data management platforms are likely to be strong acquisition targets for hybrid cloud providers to integrate data management functionality into their hybrid cloud management platforms," says Frost - Sullivan information and communication technology research analyst, Karyn Price.

"Businesses must use different infrastructures to meet the needs of a diverse set of applications, services, data, and users. For some applications or services, the stability and performance offered in a private environment will be best. In others, the flexibility provided in the cloud will best suit the needs of the application and the users that access it."

Price says that businesses are currently storing most of their data in facilities they can directly control, such as an on-premises data center, hosted private space, or at an edge or branch location. But she says data storage in the public cloud is gaining momentum as it offers promising benefits such as scalability, portability, and accessibility for enterprises.

"Investments in technologies will drive growth opportunities in organisations undergoing digital transformation," Price adds.

Some key findings of the 2020 Frost - Sullivan Global Cloud User Survey include:

• 75% of respondents cite a need to rely more on data to improve business processes and decision-making, which presents an opportunity for providers to develop higher-touch managed data services that help businesses grow and execute their data strategies.
• Businesses utilise data in various areas to analyse IT operations (44%), improve employee productivity (43%), reduce costs (41%), understand customers better (40%), manage operations technology (39%), and reduce errors (38%).
• 56% of businesses are experiencing solid and steady data growth of between 25% and 74% annually. For companies that use or adopt IoT technology initiatives, the rate of data growth will likely be in the 50% to 100% range.
• A majority of respondents (65%) note that deploying an app across multiple IT environments is a crucial challenge; thus, providers should offer flexibility that best suits the needs of the application and the users that access it.