Business leaders spend a lot of time looking outside of their organisations, which is a critical success factor in today’s constantly evolving business-to-business and consumer landscapes. Current economic and business trends have taught us all a few valuable lessons: pay attention to what’s happening around you; don’t get complacent; and, above all, get to really, really know and understand your customers, their pain points and their needs.

Download your free white paper: 10 Ways Data Can Be Your Strategic Advantage

There are rapidly released technologies which customers are eager to learn about and discover. As important as an outward focus is, however, so, too, is an inward one. The rise of big data gives organisations unprecedented access to insights surrounding their customers and operations — but unless that data is being collected, stored and can easily be accessed and analysed, it’s not being used meaningfully.

In fact, data can be a boon or a curse, depending on how your business approaches it. The reality is that as enterprises adopt innovative solutions such as Internet of things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), analytics, robotics, and augmented reality and virtual reality (AR/VR), their data is growing exponentially. Which means a solution to store, protect, catalogue, access and analyse data is increasingly critical.

For heads of infrastructure and architects who are concerned with managing unstructured data for cloud, big data, analytics and objects, a solution providing scalability, agility and efficiency is required.

Data paves the road to digital transformation

The buzzword of this decade that will be carried over into 2020 is digital transformation. Digitally transformed businesses that are technology-led are, and will continue to be, market leaders. Which means digital transformation initiatives are essential to an organisation’s success, and are supported by the need to get business insights faster and more accurately to more decision makers.

According to global market intelligence firm IDC, this is influencing enterprises in a number of ways:

Across large organisations, executives are placing premium value on data-driven decision making, as well as the ability of analytics and technology to derive differentiated insights from both the wide variety and the large volume of internal and external data available to businesses.
The result is that growth in every industry will most likely be driven by digitally enhanced offerings, operations, and relationships.
The success of a digital transformation initiative therefore relies on an organisation’s ability to acquire, process and activate data from multiple sources.

If your organisation is currently focusing on its own digital transformation initiatives to remain relevant and grow both top-line revenue and profitability, the right IT infrastructure is required. Storage solutions that support these business goals will be particularly essential for digital transformation initiatives.

New data needs require new data storage solutions

For many enterprise-level organisations, secure data storage over extended periods of time has traditionally been the result of compliance and governance needs. Today, data is so much more than that, and deriving insights that play a critical role in steering business direction for product and service development and improvements makes the storage of unstructured data a new business imperative.

IBM storage platforms make it possible to store practically limitless amounts of data, simply and effectively. Designed to support exponential data growth and hybrid environments, these solutions have built-in high-speed file transfer capabilities, cross-region offerings, and integrated services that can help you leverage your data.

The business value of IBM storage platforms

To determine the value of IBM storage platforms, IDC spoke with organisations about their experiences. Titled The Business Value of IBM Cloud Object Storage, the study reveals that IBM customers report benefiting from having a cost-effective, scalable storage solution.

Face with the challenge to provide storage that could cost effectively meet the needs of their unstructured data, upon which their businesses increasingly rely, putting the scalability and performance of their storage environments at risk.

IBM’s solution allows scalability and consistent performance while:

Accommodating large and complex data environments;
Provisioning for Hybrid solutions to suit business needs and satisfy data management policies;
Decreasing environmental and skills resources required, through simplified management; and
Enabling customer to progress on their digital journey, regardless of their current positioning.

A foundation built for the future that will last and provide flexibility to modernise your data infrastructure

With IBM and a cloud-native storage interface to avoid lock in and peace of mind, more large deployments than any other vendor in the world, and over 800 technology patents for innovation, you can be assured of a long-term solution for your business requirements.

TCM: Your IBM storage specialist

With over three decades of operational experience in the South African enterprise environment, Technology Corporate Management (TCM) is an IBM platinum partner that continues to deliver best value services and solutions to its loyal and growing customer base across southern Africa. TCM was the first IBM business partner to attain IBM Storage Specialist status in the Middle East and Africa region in 2012, and continues to lead the field within the cloud storage space.

TCM’s in-house IBM expertise ensures they are leaders in this field, which they use to guide their customers through a business environment categorised by exponential change in terms of how business is done, and the need for phenomenal performance gains. The dire consequences of end-of-support with ageing infrastructure and legacy systems, and the considerable cost of rebuilding applications can be mitigated with the right solutions and suitable path of transition.

If you’re ready to spend less time managing and more time innovating, find out more now with your free white paper: 10 Ways Data Can Be Your Strategic Advantage.