Partnering on Strategies for Data-First Modernization

As companies lean into data-first modernization to deliver best-in-class experiences and drive innovation, protecting and managing data at scale become core challenges. Given the diversity of data and range of data-inspired use cases, it’s important to align with a robust partner ecosystem. This can help IT teams map the right set of services to unique workflows and to ensure that data is securely managed and accessible regardless of location.

Data volume has become a challenge for organizations as the size and velocity of data increase. Yet there’s no singular, one-size-fits-all framework for secure data storage and management. According to IDC, global data creation and replication will experience a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 23% by 2025. This means that organizations need access to a range of solutions for storing sensitive data at scale, especially in light of mounting regulations that vary by geography and industry. Two well-known examples: GDPR in Europe and HIPAA privacy rules for health information in the U.S.

With data well situated as the lifeblood of organizations and as a core competitive differentiator, data security becomes paramount. The rise in ransomware attacks and other cybersecurity breaches has raised awareness of the issue and made securing the IT estate a top C-suite priority.

Upgrading IT and data security to reduce corporate risk was the No. 1 CEO priority for respondents to the IDG/Foundry “State of the CIO Study 2022” research, cited by a third of the respondents. Almost half (49%) called out increasing cybersecurity protections as the top business initiative driving IT investments this year, up from 34% in 2021.

The push for elevated cybersecurity protections is also filtering down into storage and data management requirements. Gartner research shows that 60% of all enterprises will require storage products to have integrated ransomware defense and mitigation mechanisms by 2025, up from 10% in 2022.

As enterprises modernize with cloud, connectivity, and data, they are gravitating to technology-as-a-service models to refashion IT estates. Traditionally these IT ecosystems feature silos spread across multiple environments, including on-premises data centers and colocation facilities at the edge or across diverse cloud platforms. Compounding the complexity: the problem of multigenerational IT and the challenge of establishing resilience and cybersecurity across workloads. This in light of the disparity of the environment and due to mounting cybersecurity, regulatory, and privacy challenges.

Without an overall strategy for modernization, companies risk mismanaging their edge-to-cloud data efforts, either overprovisioning, which incurs unnecessary costs, or underprovisioning, which impedes their ability to fully deliver for customers or hit key business goals. They may also lack on-staff expertise to design and manage robust cybersecurity protocols.

“Customers want to be provided with integrated and optimized hardware and software platforms … to make sure there’s no disruption at all in the business,” says Valerie Da Fonseca, worldwide GreenLake and GTM senior director at HPE. “The key here is to shape the right data strategy so you simplify data management and provide access controls in an as-a-service model.”

Partner Ecosystem at Work

A rich partner ecosystem is essential for delivering next-generation secure data management protection from edge to cloud. HPE GreenLake’s backup-and-recovery services help companies fulfill data protection service-level agreements (SLAs) without having to make upfront capital investments or take on overprovisioning risk. On-demand cloud backup and recovery services ensure resilience at scale and allow for an agile response to changing business needs. Preconfigured on-premises solutions provide extended options, and a rich ecosystem of third-party partners gives customers choice.

The HPE GreenLake data protection portfolio delivers next-generation data protection services, from design and implementation to delivery with no vendor lock-in. The life cycle starts with HPE’s Zerto ransomware protection and disaster recovery services and extends to hybrid cloud data protection with the HPE Backup and Recovery Service. Last but not least, HPE offers on-premises data protection with HPE StoreOnce, a modernized data management solution for hybrid cloud that simplifies operations and delivers data protection based on common SLAs. Additional backup-and-recovery options from ISV partners such as Veeam, Commvault, and Cohesity complete the picture, ensuring that HPE GreenLake for Data Protection Services provides a breadth of choice to make data backup-and-recovery operations seamless and automated.

“The partner ecosystem delivers a comprehensive, end-to-end suite of services that adds value to HPE’s data protection strategy,” Da Fonseca says. “We are integrating everything into our hardware and HPE GreenLake as-a-service platform, and the solutions can be located everywhere and anywhere and be fully managed if customers don’t have the staff.”

To ensure the right data management/protection mix, HPE works with customers to understand their business needs and IT management challenges, creating a holistic strategy that encompasses the right partners and operating model. That level of comprehensive planning is crucial to safeguarding data and ensuring an end-to-end data management strategy that truly mitigates risk and meets the needs of the business. At the same time, making data protection available as a service streamlines the customer experience, providing time-to-market and cost advantages.

“It’s really about faster access to the insights that the business needs to make better decisions around innovation and customer experience,” she says. “Having one operating model with all the IT environments connected in the right way means customers don’t have to worry about where data resides. They can get the right benefits and insights out of data without managing it or worrying about compliance and security risks.”

For more information, visit https://www.hpe.com/us/en/greenlake/services.html.