Cloud Storage Adoption is the Need of the Hour for Business

The rush towards cloud storage means that the cloud has to offer a valuable proposition to businesses. Let’s explore why businesses regardless of their size should consider moving to the cloud.



The proliferation of social media, IoT devices, and sensors has translated into a huge explosion of data. While more data is always welcomed, it comes with its own sets of challenges, especially when it comes to data management. Data that is not managed effectively is as good as no data at all.

According to research by IDC, organizations expect a 30-40% growth in data (mostly unstructured) annually. So, if a business is producing and managing around 10PB of data today, hypothetically it will be managing 14PB of data the next year. Now the problem with this exponential growth in data is that it pressurizes businesses to scale and adapt quickly.

Scaling on-premises data centers means incurring a huge cost by investing in hardware, and then dealing with maintenance issues. Plus, all of it cannot be done on the fly.

In such a situation, there seems to be only one solution—cloud storage. No wonder, the cloud storage market is booming. IDC expects that by 2025, 87% of the world’s total storage would reside on the cloud.

Big names in the market such as Netflix, ETSY, and General Electric have already jumped on the bandwagon, and it is only a matter of time before the small and medium enterprises make the switch.

So, what is it that cloud storage offers that on-premises data centers don’t? On top of the mind, you could say convenience, since it makes your data available anytime, anywhere. But is the rapid shift justified? Well, there is more to the cloud than meets the eye.

 

The Cloud Storage Market

 
The cloud storage market is expected to grow from $50.1 billion in 2020 to $137.3 billion in 2025 at a compound annual growth rate of 22%. There are a few major players in the market, such as Amazon Web Services, Google, and Microsoft amongst others.

These top cloud providers deal in three types of cloud storage solutions: Object storage, block storage, and file storage. Object storage is ideal for unstructured data, such as images and videos. What sets object storage apart from others is the usage of metadata. Some common examples of object storage, include Amazon S3, Google Cloud, and Azure Blob storage.

File storage presents unstructured data in a hierarchy of files and folders. While it’s not as flexible as object storage, it is also gaining traction in the market.

Block storage is better suited for structured data. It provides high throughput and low latency access to data.

Each storage type caters to different use cases, so before moving to the cloud, it is essential for an organization to analyze what its needs are.

 

What Does The Cloud Have To Offer?

 
The rush towards cloud storage means that the cloud has to offer a valuable proposition to businesses. Let’s explore why businesses regardless of their size should consider moving to the cloud.

 

1. Cost Efficiency

 
Moving to the cloud means that you no longer have to invest in expensive hardware, software, and human resources to maintain on-prem data centers. Some companies hesitate due to the complex process and cost involved in migration. However, as organizations learn to adapt, the cost of the cloud goes down. An easy-to-use cloud data integration tool can also help make the process seamless and reduce costs.

 
Cloud Storage Adoption is the Need of the Hour for Business
 

The figure above by Gartner shows the initial cost of cloud and migration, but once cloud migration is complete, cloud costs 55% less than on-prem data centers.

Plus, the best part about cloud storage options is that it comes with cost-efficient storage tiers, so you can manage the cost of storing your data according to its usage. For example, Azure Blob storage has three tiers of access: hot, cold, and archive. Hot storage has low accessibility costs but high storage costs, making it ideal for current data. Archive tier, on the other hand, has low storage costs but high accessibility costs, which makes it better suited for historical data.

 

2. Scalability

 
Growing with traditional on-prem data centers means that you have to call in an expert to add on additional hardware and increase the capacity of your servers. This not only results in increased costs but also downtime, which companies today cannot afford.

When data storage is limited, it affects the entire organization’s ability to grow and innovate quickly. Engineers become involved in maintaining data infrastructure rather than focusing on the real issues, plus it takes time to respond to market changes.

Companies today are more agile and cloud is the modern solution to support their pace. With the cloud, you can increase and decrease your resources with just a few simple clicks and pay for what you use.

 

3. Security

 
In this era, when hackers are becoming more notorious, security is becoming a huge issue for organizations. Data centers are ripe for hacking, and we are not exaggerating. In 2014, Target came under attack and 40 million debit and credit card information was stolen. A similar hack happened with JP Morgan Chase in 2015. It was one of the biggest hacks, where 80 million accounts were compromised. The hackers exploited a vulnerability in the encryption software to gain access to the financial institution’s information.

The cloud is not invincible. However, it is built to survive most hacks and even natural disasters. However, when it comes to choosing between cloud and on-prem, the cloud is always a better option because running a data center is not the core strength or primary business for organizations. Hence, they are better off using the services of companies, such as Amazon, that specialize in this domain.

 

It’s Time to Make the Shift

 
Cloud is the solution for modern-day business. It is safe, cost-effective, and it takes away the burden off your shoulders, so you can pay attention to your core business. The migration process may seem intimidating initially, but in the longer run, the cloud definitely has more value than on-prem data centers.

 

Additional Resources

 
Global Cloud Storage Market (2020 to 2025) - Rise of Containerization Presents Opportunities

Organizations Rely on Cloud Storage to Optimize Cost, Increase Agility, and Drive Innovation

 
 
Jeveria Rahim is a Content Strategist at Astera Software. A marketer by profession, a tech enthusiast, and a writer at heart Javeria Rahim loves to share her opinions with the world. She is passionate about the cloud data integration technology that makes lives easier.