Data is the core digital function driving overhaul

Saifuddin Khwaja, Senior Sales Director at Western Digital

Whilst the digital environment has been constantly changing in the Middle East over the last few years, the pandemic ushered in, by necessity, a degree of digital transformation that is unprecedented for the region in both its scale and scope. The rapid acceleration of digital across both private and public sectors alike forced the roll out of digital systems and placed connected technology and data storage at the forefront of adoption.

Digital businesses must be prepared to manage and mitigate any event where there is potential for data to be corrupted or lost

The next few years should be an exciting time for smart technology providers in the Middle East. As various technologies continue to evolve so will the data storage needs and how to get the best value from it. Specialised storage is therefore necessary to create optimum value from IoT data, which must be considered when building out the wider data infrastructure.

The implementation of the right storage infrastructure and technology and subsequent education on them will help consumers to feel that their information is more secure and remove doubt around these technologies.

The core digital function that is driving most internal infrastructure overhauls is data. Data must be efficiently collected, retained, and analysed to reach the business’ peak potential, upscaling staff to understand the complexities of navigating such systems. Therefore, digital businesses must be prepared to manage and mitigate any event where there is potential for data to be corrupted or lost.

Data protection in the modern enterprise is seeing fast-paced changes often requiring a new approach and strategy. As we move towards a more regulated world, it is also necessary to remain compliant with data privacy regulations and eDiscovery requests. Data must also be protected from loss, disasters, and cyber threats.

Data protection in the modern enterprise is seeing fast-paced changes often requiring a new approach and strategy

Successfully adopting a cloud strategy will help businesses end up with a more powerful, cost-effective and highly reliable solution for long-term data retention and a robust platform that can respond to new capacity or hardware challenges in a flexible manner and facilitate data forever.

Business leaders need to look at the bigger picture of data as an enterprise asset because when a company’s data strategy is aligned with their business strategy, better business decisions can happen. Data infrastructure is critical in our digital world as data must be stored and analysed quickly, efficiently, and securely. Thus, data architectures need to go beyond simple data capture and storage to data transformation and creating business value.

Many businesses, however, still use general-purpose architecture to manage their IoT data. This architecture does not fully meet the varying needs of IoT applications and workloads for consumers and enterprises. Therefore, businesses must move from general-purpose storage to purpose-built data storage and different solutions for different needs.

Many businesses, still use general-purpose architecture to manage their IoT data

Taking on transformative digital solutions should not mean sacrificing sustainable initiatives, in fact, it should do the opposite. It should mean building the foundation for data, giving people new ways of utilising technology like never.

Saifuddin Khwaja, Senior Sales Director at Western Digital
Saifuddin Khwaja, Senior Sales Director at Western Digital.

Data must be collected, retained, analysed to reach the business’ peak potential, upscaling staff to understand complexities of navigating such systems.