While most businesses recognise the importance of technology, keeping up with the pace of change can be a huge challenge. Every day, decision-makers in business and IT are bombarded with new technologies and products that promise to automate, improve, integrate or accelerate almost every aspect of any given operation.
It can lead to decision paralysis where business leaders worry that the technologies they choose will end up being either obsolete or not fit for purpose in a matter of months when a new product comes to market. Failure to embrace the latest technology can leave companies a step behind their competitors, reduce their ability to scale and change with market needs, and leaves them open to serious risk from hackers who can easy exploit the vulnerabilities in their legacy systems.
Deploying modern infrastructure
Outdated IT infrastructures are not only a business continuity risk; they are a barrier to digital transformation. There are many features that simply don’t exist on older legacy IT that are needed to enable businesses to take the next step in their digital evolution. Businesses that use custom infrastructures, often developed by individuals or teams that subsequently leave the organisation, can easily find themselves in a situation where they unable to update their systems to meet their current needs. It’s in these scenarios when upgrades become too challenging and expensive and businesses become “locked in”.
These businesses would benefit enormously from investing in a scalable storage model. This system would grow in line with their data demands and supercharge the business’s digital transformation quickly and effectively.
Integrating the latest backup and disaster recovery solutions that can easily be upgraded will also mitigate risk and help avoid future headaches. Even if a custom system is required, IT teams or business owners should look to the IT provider to use standard protocols and APIs, allowing them to be updated as needed without limitations.
Every business has its own requirements, whether it’s using the latest and greatest system or an older solution that still does the job. What’s clear though is that in an age where consumers and businesses alike have come to expect a more digital experience, the more an organisation can reflect this, the stronger edge it will have over its competitors.
What organisations simply cannot afford to do in their move to become more digital, is to ignore the security risks. Even when using the latest technology, a business must ensure all data is adequately backed up so it can be restored quickly and easily, should disaster strike.
But there are even more benefits to deploying modern storage infrastructure than just scalability. Going beyond ease of use and better return on investment, today’s storage systems can protect critical data from the threat of ransomware attacks. When upgrading legacy storage systems, businesses should look for a solution that includes ransomware remediation and instant data recovery.
Calling on the experts
When it comes to making the right choices for these business-critical decisions, organisations should rely on trusted partners or system integrators. Because they keep up with the latest technology, they are in the best position to recommend the ideal IT systems for any business requirement. While bigger businesses have the luxury of large IT teams who can do this assessment internally, SMEs with limited resources and knowledge may find the process overwhelming on their own. This is where IT partners play a pivotal role to play in ensuring that SMEs don’t fall behind large enterprises and can effectively level the playing field of IT deployments for the benefit of their business.
Leo Lynch, Director of Sales – ANZ, StorageCraft
