Arcserve Southern Africa acknowledges that last year was one of substantial change in data protection as organisations grappled with new privacy regulations, exceedingly sophisticated ransomware attacks, and cloud-first disaster recovery strategies that ushered in unexpected costs and heightened risks of data loss.

Arcserve has made three predictions for 2019 and their impact over the next 12 months:

* Public cloud envy ends as sticker shock sets in – Many organisations have adopted cloud-first strategies to benefit from the increased agility and economies of scale, however they face unexpected and significant fees associated with the movement and recovery of data in public clouds. Because of this, more organisations will scale back from using public clouds for disaster recovery (DR) and instead, leverage hybrid cloud strategies and cloud service providers (CSPs) who offer private cloud solutions with predictable cost models.

* AI-powered solutions help IT teams work smarter – A year in technology can be measured in seconds, with new capabilities transforming the way we interact with, and protect, critical business data. Over the coming year, organisations can expect data protection solutions to go beyond real-time insight and incorporate artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities that can predict and avert unplanned downtime from physical disasters before they happen. These solutions will automate DR processes, intelligently restoring the most frequently accessed, cross-functional or critical data first and proactively replicate it to the cloud before a downtime event occurs.

* Cost concerns drive uptick of self-managed DRaaS in channel community – The “as-a-service” model is growing at lightning speed, and this trend will continue in the next 12 months. Specifically, self-managed disaster recovery as a service (DRaaS) will increase in prominence as organisations seek to realize the cloud’s full value as a DR option with a lower investment than managed DRaaS. In response, channel partners will add more self-service options to support growing customer demand for contractually guaranteed recovery time and point objectives (RTOs/RPOs) while expanding their addressable market without the responsibility of managing customer environments.

“It’s clear that companies are getting serious about data protection and will invest a significant amount of time and money into making sure they have the rights tools, resources and services to keep their invaluable corporate data safe,” says Driaan Odendaal, Arcserve Southern Africa, lead: technical. “However, if 2018 showed us anything, it’s that businesses still need quite a bit of education when it comes to managing their data in a cost-effective and efficient way. It’s going to be interesting to see how leaders address and rectify the challenges they previously faced as they head into 2019.”