As data analytics and the cloud become essential business drivers, enterprises need to be able to cope with significant volumes of data. Business Connexion’s Sakkie Burger and Kamal Ravjee, discuss how data centres can meet the growing demands of these businesses.

Only a few years ago, the cloud was seen primarily as a delivery system for IT services. Since then, we have seen it come of age and become an essential driver for business efficiency and growth. Companies around Africa are reaping the rewards of investing in best-of-breed cloud solutions, experiencing optimised processes, reduced costs and gaining a competitive advantage.

Businesses that fail to make strategic use of the cloud are finding themselves falling behind as they lack the ability to innovate and grow their businesses relative to their more agile competitors. Small and medium-sized enterprises are experiencing this most acutely, as they weigh the need for reliable enterprise-level cloud solutions against cost considerations.

The other up-and-coming transformative technology is data analytics. South Africa remains a relatively immature market when it comes to the use of data analytics. Businesses are certainly aware of the need for cloud and data analytics but even the larger enterprises are only starting to explore their full potential.

This is all set to change as data explodes in volume and companies find the most effective ways to use data analytics for their needs. By 2020, the world’s data output is expected to reach 40 zettabytes, a 50-fold increase from 2010. Sifting through the sheer volume of data out there – most of it unstructured – will require intensive data storage and processing power.

Business Connexion is responsible for the storage of a large proportion of South Africa’s data, ranging from SMEs to major enterprises that form the backbone of the economy. As part of our strategy to deliver premium business outcomes to our clients through our data centres, we strive for agile solutions that are tailored towards our client needs.

Effective cloud and analytical strategies are predicated around effective use of data, which calls for both a coherent strategy and a virtualised environment that can support them. We have worked closely with IBM to build and develop a data warehousing infrastructure capable of meeting the cloud and data challenges of not just today, but the future.

Our latest initiative with IBM will allow for the optimisation of our data centre infrastructure to a state of the art, fully virtualised storage environment. This will provide us with a comprehensive end-to-end solution that provides top-notch functionality, all from a single control point.

Every year, the data needs of South African enterprises grow. The new IBM upgrade will make use of auto-tiering, crucial for storage efficiency and cost savings. This allows us to better serve our clients in advising at which tier their data should be stored.

Today’s businesses need to have around the clock availability of their data, without experiencing disruption for back-ups and archiving. Investing in top notch technology allows us to provide a zero defect storage environment.

By upgrading our infrastructure, we are positioning ourselves to take advantage of future growth and enable our clients to fully explore the capabilities of the cloud and data analytics without compromising their business continuity.

To learn how your business can make effective use of cloud and data analytics and to register for our event taking place 12 March in Johannesburg and 17 March in Cape Town. Click here: Intelligence in the Moment Event