The Data Management Crisis

Just about any sizeable IT organization these days is having a major issue with data management. Starting with the sheer amount of data that needs to managed all the way up through all the associated compliance and regulatory issues, data management in most IT organization is nothing short of out of control.

And just to make matter more interest, business executives are telling their IT organizations to move more data into the cloud. Trouble is a lot of IT organizations are not exactly sure what data is associated with what applications and, in turn, what applications are associated with what business processes. That makes it extremely difficult to figure out exactly what application workloads and associated data should be moved to the cloud.

Of course, in the context of the channel chaos is just another word for opportunity. To that end, Hitachi Data Systems is extending its TrueNorth channel program to include specializations that are designed to help solution providers take a holistic approach to data management, as opposed to just trying to sell storage hardware.

Mike Walkey, channel chief for HDS, says the opportunities surrounding data management are not only multi-faceted, the simple fact of the matter is that solution providers in the channel these days can’t really get the storage business without also address the customer’s larger data management issues.

There’s no doubt that the data management crisis is coming to head if for no other reason that customers are tired of paying for all the extra IT infrastructure required to process and store mountains of often duplicate data. The challenge facing solution providers going forward, however, is not necessarily how to sell more storage hardware, but rather shift their business to address data management issues that ultimately will prove to not only be more profitable to the solution provider, but also more valuable to the customer.