Cost cutting tactics in data management

It costs companies time and money to manage and store data, and the more data that inundates corporations each year, the more it costs them as their data management infrastructure requirements become more complex. IT budgets are not growing at the same rate however, meaning that IT departments are under constant pressure to do more with less.

In addition, more and more companies are looking to IT to help create new revenue streams or make better use of the data that resides in their systems in order to gain a competitive advantage.

In this article, Rick Theiler, Vice President for Asia Pacific, CommVault, shares three key factors that companies should consider when looking for a data management solution that will help them cut costs, while scaling as their data grows and requirements on what the data can do for the business increases.

1.Compatibility and interoperability are a must
The less time spent grappling with compatibility issues, the more a company saves on time, resources and therefore, cost. Companies should look to increase collaboration across operational silos by intelligently searching and gaining insight into information assets across the enterprise. Today’s data management software should easily operate and access across a vast range of applications, file systems and NAS platforms.

Fully integrated back-up, archive and deduplication capabilities optimize storage resources, thereby extending the life of existing storage assets. This will enable companies to better classify, organize, consolidate and retain information assets for more effective long-term management and greater business value.

Enterprise should look at ways to create a more efficient system by increasing the value of data. One way to do this is by offering users organized, intuitive access to information that delivers increased productivity, faster and lower cost eDiscovery, and improved decision-making. With interoperability and compatibility a given, companies can then reduce total cost of ownership by migrating stale data to lower cost storage, effectively enabling the retention of more data with the same resources.

2.Minimize administration
Managing an organization’s data and related infrastructure is complex, time-consuming, and as a result, costly. A recent study by Data Management Institute shows that administration accounts for a staggering 80 percent of the total storage cost, with just 20 percent spent on hardware.   With stored data increasing 60 percent annually (according to an IDC report), efficient data management is a critical bottom line imperative.  Companies embracing a unified approach to managing both back-up and archive, for example, can eliminate administrative ‘headaches’ of dealing with disjointed data, enabling time spent on tedious administrative tasks to be put to better use, and prioritized for higher value work.

3.Reduce complexity
Companies looking to reduce soaring data management costs can look to do so by centralizing and streamlining operations from a single, unified browser console. By protecting, archiving, replicating and searching data from a single platform, CIOs can reduce the complexity of an enterprise’s data management infrastructure. When all of the data management functions – e.g. reporting and forecasting – can be done in one view, management time is lowered, therefore improving the efficiency of the management team.

A unified browser console can eliminate much of this complexity by implementing a consistent data management strategy framework. An efficient single platform can then set policies and automate procedures for carrying data through replication, protection and archive stages according to stipulated definitions, thus simplifying data management functions across all applications, platforms, devices and locations – from the most remote of offices to the enterprise data center itself.

A case in point… 
CommVault, which in recent weeks was named a leader in The Forrester Wave™ Enterprise Backup Software for Q2 2013 , enabled Takaful Malaysia to significantly reduce its data management costs. Takaful Malaysia, one of Malaysia’s largest insurance firms, experienced rapid data growth – from 7 terabytes [TB] to approximately 20TB within the span of just two years.

With CommVault’s single platform Simpana solution, Takaful Malaysia has been able to reduce costs and complexity through:
•Reducing storage related and tools licensing costs
•Less time spent grappling with compatibility issues
•Reducing administrative overheads and total support costs
•Increasing visibility while lowering management time costs

The project included the consolidation of three point products on 12 backup servers into a single end-to-end data management platform running with just two backup servers.  As a result, all the data management functions, reporting and forecasting, can now be done from a single pane of glass, lowering management time for a 130-strong team by 30 percent daily.

The company’s previously complex infrastructure, across multiple sites and platforms, meant that there was often poor backup performance. Back-up under the new system can be performed in 15 minutes, rather than the previous two hours. Additionally, granular recovery of information is now possible in half an hour or less, instead of the previous two or three days. In an environment where management and administrative time equates to money, the cost-reduction benefits are significant achievements, which prove that the cost of implementing an integrated platform can translate into savings that by far outweigh the initial software investment. 

Data has the potential to be a huge asset, but without modern management strategy, it can also be a huge liability, not to mention cost. In today’s environment, where CIOs are expected to ‘do more with less’, shrewd IT decision makers should take the time to review their current system. By eliminating unnecessary compatibility, administrative and management issues, IT departments can ultimately gain a more efficient, and ultimately, more cost-effective data management approach.