When the Titanic hit the iceberg, it wasn’t the part of the iceberg it could see above the water level that sank it, but the mass of ice below the surface. When it comes to data, danger doesn’t lurk in the data companies understand clearly, but the masses of data that is not effectively managed.
Veritas refers to the databerg: above the surface is the visible, “clean” business-critical data, tagged and classified.
According to research commissioned by Veritas, in companies across EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa), this represents just 14% of their data.
Just beneath the surface is redundant, obsolete and trivial (ROT) data, also tagged and classified data, but with minimal value to the organisation. In EMEA this makes up about 32% of the total data within organisations.
The remaining 54% is dark data, untagged and unknown. There is no real insight into the information dark data holds, so there is no telling whether the data is ROT, which can be securely disposed of, or if it contains valuable, as-yet-unseen operational insights.
This means dark data can be an asset, containing valuable information an organisation can act on; or it could be a risk, hiding threats and potential costs out of sight and out of control, leaving them to lurk and grow in the dark.
The size of unknown risk increases with rising data levels. Those who understand their data, and control it, can reap the rewards, save costs and stop threats before they become an issue. However, more data is accumulating below the waterline, adding significant levels of risk and cost. How to control this data is not always obvious.
Research conducted independently by Coleman Parkes surveyed 100 South African IT leaders across multiple sectors and job roles to gain insight into how they are handling the growing databerg.
The good news is South African organisations are beginning to take control of both their clean and dark data. From 10% two years ago, the amount of clean data held by South African organisations has almost tripled and now occupies 28% of stored data, 14% above the global average. In addition, dark data has fallen to 13% below the global average.
The bad news is ROT data, which is known to be of low or no value, has only fallen 1% since last reported, still making up 31%, almost equal to the global average of 32%. Although progress has been made with clean and dark data, the ROT data needs closer attention by South African organisations. So, while they’ve done a great job of tagging data, almost a third is still data they know they don’t need.
In 2016, the majority of South African organisations (52%) calculated the cost of storing and processing data by its business value – arguably the best way to manage data storage as it ensures organisations aren’t paying to store low value data unnecessary volumes.
However, this method of data valuation has now fallen to 46%, and most South African organisations (56%) calculate the cost of storing and processing data solely by volume. This could lead to the unnecessary storage or ROT data, which wastes budget.
The research indicates that South African organisations want to adopt the cloud, but may not have the budget they need. Today, some 39% of all South African organisational data is stored in the cloud. However, this is 9% less than the amount South African IT leaders predicted would be stored in the cloud by 2017.
Today, more than half (51%) of data from South African organisations is predicted to be stored in the cloud in 12 month’s time.
This year’s report reveals some insight into how financial organisations see their usage of cloud playing out over the next 12 months. Although financial firms are becoming more comfortable storing data in the cloud, they have the lowest cloud usage across all other verticals, at just 34%. This conservative view looks set to stay, with just 47% of financial organisations’ data is predicted to be stored in the cloud in 12 month’s time.
The utilities sector predicts the highest cloud adoption of any sector, with 41% of its data currently stored in the cloud and a predicted 54% to be stored in the cloud in 12 month’s time, 3% above the average for South African organisations.
A massive 89% of South African organisations want to adopt cloud services. However, the adoption of cloud is hindered in South African organisations by contradicting views on cost. On the one hand, reducing backup and recovery cost is the top reason to adopt the cloud, with 73%. In contrast, increasing cost over time is the second highest concern cited by 39% of South African IT leaders.
The degree of concern over cloud adoption varies by job function. Over half, 52%, of South African Operations Directors and 48% of IT Directors are concerned with increasing costs. Whereas, just 13% of CIOs share the same concern. Given CIOs are the most influential and senior IT buyers, they should drive cloud adoption in South African organisations.
Different sectors also chose different cloud partners. Microsoft and Google are joint first with 74% of South African organisations using them. Following closely is Amazon Web Services, used on average by 43%. However, finance firms split cloud providers between Google and Amazon Web Services, 78% each, leaving Microsoft falling behind at 56%.
This year’s report shows financial organisations are confused about the move from old, expensive disk and tape devices, to the cloud. Over half, 56%, continue to store long-term data on primary devices, which they believe are more secure than the cloud. This is echoed by the 67% who are more concerned about security of the cloud, double the amount of those concerned about the cost of moving to the cloud.
Reluctant to move away from primary devices, but understanding the need for the cloud, the South African finance sector leads the way, with 56% using Hybrid Cloud strategies for modern workloads. This means finance organisations need mixed data governance strategies, allowing for a combination of on-premise, private and public clouds for modern workloads.
Overall, South African organisations want to adopt the cloud, yet without sufficient budget the they will never move away from hybrid infrastructures. Remember, South African organisations have an average of 31% ROT data. In addition, 35% still store data on expensive primary disk devices. Clearly, South African organisations need to save money change their approach to data. First, organisations need to safely remove ROT data, then move data from primary devices to less expensive secondary disk devices. Only then will organisations be able to afford the cloud storage they need.
South Africa’s cost conscious culture is saving its organisations money, yet compromising security. Nearly half, 47%, believe responsibility is shared with the cloud provider when managing data, supported by 39% of CIOs. Yet, 48% of IT directors believe it’s solely the cloud provider’s responsibility, giving many organisations a good reason to be nervous.
Furthermore, testing the disaster recovery ability of its IT services has been sidelined. South African organisations testing disaster recovery systems every 6 months has risen by 15% over the last two years, most prominently in the finance and retails industries at 44%. Whereas, testing once a quarter has fallen by 13%. Organisations may be saving money, but putting security at risk.
South African organisations opt for retraining current staff, rather than hiring new candidates when it comes to data protection. Over half, 57%, of organisations believe the Modern Workload Administrator is responsible for data protection. However, 67% of financial firms think the existing backup administration team is responsible, raising concerns as organisations attempt to reduce costs.
In addition, organisations are saving budget by relying on current IT teams being fully skilled up on modern and traditional workloads. Particularly in the industrial sector, where 47% of organisations fully skilled up on both modern and traditional workload/applications with the same IT support teams.