NetApp’s Data Complexity Report Highlights Need For Unified Data Storage

Data storage and management company NetApp has released its 2023 Data Complexity Report, which explores enterprises' growing needs for unified data storage. It found that 98% organisations are in the middle of their cloud journey, with three out of four reporting workloads stored on-premises.

The report highlighted the need for a unified approach to hybrid multi-cloud architectures and innovation in both on-premises all-flash storage and public cloud storage to enable the adoption of artificial intelligence at scale.

The report was based on quantitative research among 1,000 C-level tech and data executives across businesses in six markets—the U.S., India, Japan, France, Germany, and the U.K.

“Enterprises face a complex technology landscape fraught with security risks and pressures to keep up with emerging technologies like AI while reducing environmental impacts,” said Sandeep Singh, senior vice president and general manager of enterprise storage at NetApp. “Innovative cloud-enabled flash storage solutions are needed to address the evolving demands of AI, enhance efficiency and bolster resilience against the escalating cyber threats within the data ecosystem,” Singh added.

Below are some key insights from the report:

Organisations Are In The Middle Of Cloud Adoption

Migration to the cloud hasn't been a linear journey for many businesses, the report noted. Of all tech executives with plans to migrate workloads to the cloud, three out of four still have most of their workloads stored on-premises.

AI adoption is the biggest driver for cloud migration, and cloud is a major enabler for AI adoption. Of the respondents, 74% said they are using public cloud services for AI and analytics. Tech executives globally (39%) said their top need for flash innovation is to optimise AI performance, cost and efficiency.

AI Is Driving Cloud Adoption

Enterprises are continuing to adopt AI, with 72% respondents already using generative AI and 74% leveraging public cloud AI and analytics services. However, AI deployment has its set of challenges. According to the report, data security (57%), data integration (50%) and talent scarcity (45%) persist as barriers.

IT leaders continue to make a case for more funding, as nearly 63% AI budgets come from new funding rather than reallocated budgets, and 65% of C-suite and IT leaders expect to engage new vendors as AI's role within their infrastructure expands.

Data Security Concerns

According to the report, 87% C-suite and board members cited ransomware as a high or top priority, while 55% C-suite and board-level executives stated ransomware attack mitigation as the top priority in their organisation. Forty percent ranked security threats and data privacy among the top causes of complexity in their storage infrastructure.

Nearly half (48%) of the respondents expect that it would take days or weeks for their organisation to recover from cyber attacks, representing a potentially devastating risk to business.

“While ransomware protection requires a cyber-resilient full-stack architecture, leaders are increasingly demanding storage vendors that offer guarantees for recovery of data after a ransomware attack,” said Jeff Baxter, vice president of product marketing at NetApp.

Sustainability A Top Concern In Technology Innovation

Of the respondents, 83% cited sustainability as an important deciding factor when choosing storage vendors, the report noted. Additionally, 50% recognised that reducing energy and carbon footprint is central to responsible AI, while 84% agreed that reducing their company's carbon footprint is an important part of sustainability initiatives.

Cloud-Enabled Flash Storage Can Address Challenges

AI is impacting both buying decisions and expectations for innovation. According to the report, 39% respondents want flash storage solutions that optimise AI performance.

Sixty-one percent of tech executives also cited either data security or data privacy among their top choices for where they want to see flash storage design breakthroughs in the next three years.

Sustainability was a third area of expected innovation, with calls for more energy-efficient hardware and software, and automated recommendations for reducing energy with CO2 topping the list.