3 Options for Optimizing Your Data Storage

Data is one of the most valuable and useful assets that businesses have these days. They use it to make informed decisions, take actions, and organize the day-to-day operations of the company. Not to mention, businesses need to keep data for legal purposes, to keep track of their spending, employees, and operations.

According to Converge, businesses need three types of data: company data, personal data, and online and behavioral data. This adds up to endless streams of information that usually require powerful algorithms to be organized, not to mention used to boost the success of the brand.

So, where do you store all that data? And more importantly – how do you keep it safe? We’ll explore this and much more in this article.

What Is Data Storage?

Regardless of the industry or purpose of your organization, it will collect data from many sources. As your business grows, collecting information will become a bigger job every day. According to Forbes,2.5 quintillion bytes of data are created every single day.

You're probably thinking – I don't need to store all the data! You're right. Some data can be simply tossed aside. But, there's a lot that you must keep – in ways that keep it accessible, organized, and most importantly, safe.

To put it simply, data storage includes any method you use to retain information in a way that you can retrieve it later. This has become more versatile and complicated thanks to various storage technologies showing up on the market every day.

The importance of keeping data safe

Just like businesses don’t leave the doors of their stores open overnight for everyone to enter, they shouldn’t leave the door to their digital data open, either. The risk of malicious attacks is grand these days. If the wrong people get access to your data, there’s a lot they can do with it. This can destroy your business, its reputation, and of course – bring on immense legal fees and problems.

We so often hear of companies who suffered data loss due to criminal activities online, but also because of physical damage, infrastructure failures, incorrectly stored data, and viruses. There are a lot of possible culprits for losing the most important assets for your business. But before them all, the culprit will be you and your inability to keep it safe.

This is why it is more important than ever to keep your data safe and properly stored. This should be a priority of any organization. It goes from stringent, compliant security protocols like firewalls and antivirus software to enforcing strict password protocols to using various methods like cloud storage or physical isolation to keep the most important information safe.

3 options for optimizing your data storage today

Choosing a solution for data storage can be daunting these days. There are simply too many options and many fail to see their flaws or advantages. To make an informed decision, you need to weigh the benefits of your options. Generally speaking, these options are:

• Cloud-based solutions
• On-premises storage
• Off-premises storage

Now, let’s have a closer look at them.

Cloud-based solutions

The option to place things on the Web instead of storing them on your computers and drives has been happily welcomed by many businesses, as well as individuals. Instead of filling rooms with technology that will keep your data or paying a lot to third parties to keep it safe, you can simply increase your storage as you obtain more information of value for your business.

Right now, there are numerous cloud solutions for businesses. Starting from open-source cloud computing infrastructure software like OpenStack and Eucalyptus to knowledge base software where you can virtually organize the most important things for your business – you have plenty of options at your disposal.

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By using the first, you can specify the storage size you wish to use internally, and maybe even outsource the rest. Investing in expensive hardware to store all that data can be costly, so migrating the information to a public cloud provider can significantly reduce those expenses (as well as provide a variety of other benefits).

What is knowledge base software?

A great cloud solution for businesses these days is knowledge base software like Slite. Such bases allow you to store any kind of information imaginable ranging from analytics data to meeting minutes to customer support to CRM information and technical documentation. You can then use such tools to share the data with involved parties such as your team or clients.

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Using cloud storage, especially if you go for a less trustworthy version, can be less secure than physical storage. Popular public clouds and base software tools like Slite take security seriously and eliminate the risks of unauthorized access.

The risks are pretty much on the same level. If you make sure to secure your facility where you store the data, you're reducing the chances of unauthorized access. If you use a trusted cloud to store the data on the Web, you're doing the same thing. In some cases, quality infrastructures offer even greater levels of security since they use high encryption protocols to keep the information safe.

On-premises storage

This is a traditional data storage method that existed way before the Internet was invented. Clouds were not an option, and neither were companies that stored such data as a service. On-premises storage typically includes servers that the organization keeps on the premises, as well as owns and manages on its own.

Large organizations usually have such servers located in private data center facilities. But, smaller organizations don't have the funds or are not willing to invest so much in separate storage units, so they keep a handful of machines for this purpose in a data room at the office. The smallest companies have a tiny closet with a couple of computers and drives where they store this information.

In short, on-premises data solutions include any kind of storing that is conducted, overseen, managed, and kept on-premises on behalf of the business.

The downside to this is that it can be hard to manage it, not to mention expensive. Businesses need to upgrade and replace equipment, update and patch software, and regulate the access protocols strictly. The equipment itself tends to be quite costly. According to GetAnp, buying the necessary software and a server alone costs up to $5000 for small businesses. You also need an IT company to set it up, and experts to maintain it, which costs thousands of dollars in the long run.

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And of course, they have to eliminate the possibility of physical breaches in the storage facility, room, or closet. So, add the security expenses to this, too.

Even so, many big companies today choose to stick with the traditional to have more control over the safety of their information. With digital crime on the rise, they consider this to be a much safer option.

Off-premises storage

The last, but not the least option is off-premises storage. Now, if on-premises storage is expensive, this is definitely not an option for you. This solution is much more expensive since you're getting all of the above from someone else. You needn't worry about the space, maintenance, equipment, security, and anything else related to keeping your data.

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Companies who dislike the idea of storing their data on their own or a cloud can hire companies and collocate the equipment off-premises with a data center. They still retain control over their data, but collocation allows for more predictable pricing instead of dealing with variable costs for operating.

Choosing the best solution for your data storage

Choosing one of these three options for storing data is not an easy task. However, your choice is much easier if you know exactly how much information you need to keep safe, how you need to access it, how much money you have at your disposal, etc. Before you choose any of the three, make sure to consider your organizational needs.

In the end, you can choose more than one option if you don’t feel like one is enough. Many organizations combine physical storage with cloud-based storage to strengthen the safety of the information, or to store different types of data. And of course, you can test them all before you decide which basket to put all your eggs in.

Final thoughts

At the moment, it's becoming more and clearer that the world is driven by data. The demand for collecting and keeping data is growing every day in every industry. Thankfully, just as the demand grows, so does the number of solutions. The existing options evolve to improve safety, functionality, and make the lives of business people easier.

Without a doubt, we can expect technological advances and new solutions soon, some of which will be better for your business than others. But for now, take all the steps necessary to find the best options to store your organization's valuable information.