Data-as-a-Service – where the value lies

We’re now in the age of datafication. Businesses of all sizes have realised they need to leverage the value in their data in order to compete and innovate. At the same time, they are inundated by more data than ever before, with IoT devices going mainstream and edge capabilities taking off. But are businesses thinking about data in the right way? 
Today, we’re looking at the need for businesses to shift from managing storage to managing data, and how Data-as-a-Service is the innovation that can take them into a data-driven future. For resellers, this opens up the opportunity to engage customers at a strategic level and sell high-margin, as-a-Service solutions.

What’s happening now?
Data and digital transformation can’t be separated. Every business that wants to transform successfully must address its data management. It’s imperative to modernise the storage, access, protection, analysis and mobilisation of data across the lifecycle. But, right now, the reality for many is that data management is a headache. Fragmented infrastructure, complex processes and multiple tools increase cost and risk cost across production, backup, disaster recovery, archive and analytics. At the same time, agility and innovation is limited. This means businesses are spending money on data and getting the minimum back. 

It's a far-reaching problem, as results from a recent ESG data management survey show. 93% of IT decision makers see the complexity of storage and data management as an impediment to digital transformation. 95% see better data utilisation as a top 10 business priority, and 94% want to bring the cloud experience on-premises.

Solutions are coming together
Data isn’t the only force shaping digital transformation. Cloud has set a new bar for agility. AI is delivering automation and insights. And then there’s the huge shift to flexible consumption models that offer ‘pay-as-you-go’ convenience and control. 
All these things come together in Data-as-a-Service (DaaS). 

Data-as-a-Service delivers a new thinking and capabilities
By reimaging data storage and infrastructure management, it’s now possible to eradicate silos, eliminate complexity and unleash the full potential of data. DaaS makes data infrastructure invisible, giving businesses the power to spin up infrastructure instantly and automate data infrastructure management at cloud speed and scale. It becomes self-managing, self-healing and self-optimising, thanks to AI-powered automation. And businesses gain the advantage of a cloud consumption model, wherever the data lives. 

Let’s explore four ways businesses benefit from DaaS in more detail.

1. Gaining cloud agility
Currently, businesses face challenges of complexity. Too many troubleshooting and planning tools. Poor support experience. Lack of end-to-end visibility across their infrastructure. Plus, difficulties with intelligent data placement and tiering. With the right DaaS solution, businesses get an effortless, unified cloud experience with a choice of models to fit their business and security needs. They can run any workload, anywhere. Data is always-on and always-fast across any environment, from edge to cloud. It simplifies operations, increases efficiency and boosts performance.

2. Modernise data protection
Traditional backup appliances are not designed for today’s dynamic and distributed business environment. They are time-consuming and complex to manage. It’s difficult to align infrastructure needs with actual usage, leading to overprovisioning. And they lock away data, limiting its usefulness. DaaS helps businesses protect data wherever it is – on-premises, at the edge, or in public cloud – improving efficiencies by simplifying operations, aligning infrastructure with actual use, and turning backup data into an asset.

3. Enable hybrid cloud
Many organisations are looking to move to the public cloud – but it’s not one-size-fits all. They often end up with multiple clouds supporting diverse workload requirements – adding to the complexity of managing disparate infrastructure that spans from edge to cloud. DaaS enables a ‘cloud everywhere’ approach, enabling seamless data mobility across multiple clouds, ensuring data can be moved to wherever it is needed, without the usual costs of moving between on-premises and cloud. This freedom boosts agility and delivers faster business outcomes.

4. Empower data innovators
Businesses need to store ever-expanding data sets, access that data and quickly put it to good use. Data innovators need a way to cut through the complexity created by disparate tools and infrastructure silos and get data in the hands of the developers, analysts and data scientists who need it to power digital transformation – without compromising security. DaaS connects applications to infrastructure, eliminating data silos to help data innovators unleash agility and innovation. They benefit from performance-optimised infrastructure that delivers massive throughput and extreme scalability. 

HPE is leading the way with Intelligent Data Platform and GreenLake
Determined to deliver a game-changing data experience, HPE turned its Unified DataOps vision into HPE Intelligent Data Platform – a cloud-native, edge-to-cloud platform designed to simplify data infrastructure, empower data innovators, integrate data management, protect data everywhere and eliminate data disruptions. It turns fragmented data operations and infrastructure silos into a streamlined data experience.

The architecture of the Intelligent Data Platform is designed with as-a-Service at its core. Data Services Cloud Console empowers organisations to transform faster with unified data operations as a service. Through a suite of cloud services, this SaaS-based data console brings unified data management across the data lifecycle, extends the cloud experience to wherever data lives, and accelerates innovation for data-driven apps and insights. HPE Alletra enables business to drive every app and workload, legacy to modern, on demand and as a service. For businesses that want everything as a service, HPE GreenLake provides simple, scalable, pay-per-use infrastructure, with financial flexibility and lower TCO. Altogether, HPE is setting the standard for DaaS and making it accessible for all sizes of business, from SMBs to enterprise.

Giving resellers a strategic advantage and healthy margins
There’s a lot of spending momentum for DaaS right now and it’s set to continue as your customers address massive data growth and security challenges. DaaS lets you engage with customers at a strategic level and remain as a partner in their data transformation. Best of all, the Ingram Micro team and HPE are here to support you in exploring DaaS opportunities. Take a look at Ingramhorizon.com to find supporting information. Or talk to us to explore your options.
 

Contact your Ingram Micro representative today.