SMB’s Data Storage Balancing Act Solved with STaaS
Gary Lyng
Vice President Product and Solutions Marketing, Hitachi Vantara
November 02, 2023
As the business world moves further into the post-pandemic era, balancing growth, security, and cost are becoming data storage imperatives for SMBs. Finding a natural path towards increased cloud adoption is important in finding equilibrium, and storage as a service (STaaS) points the way.
Playing Catch-Up with Data Growth
With many SMBs still playing catch up with data growth from the past few years, SMBs are challenged to find a balance between embracing cloud fully while at the same time purchasing needed on-premises storage and protecting existing investments. According to Business Research Insights, SMB IT spending is expected to reach 27,722 million in 2027 with a CAGR of 4.49%.
Most understand that making sacrifices for full cloud adoption is neither wise, nor always necessary. At the same time, the cloud is making data storage less about ownership and more about plugging in to needed storage and services. This is where the benefits of using storage as a service (STaaS) come into play. STaaS creates that needed natural path towards cloud because it reduces requirements for on-prem storage over time.
Prioritizing Security and Continuity with Limited Resources
STaaS also supports another challenge SMBs currently face—the balance acting between meeting security and business continuity requirements with limited resources. SMBs are facing a host of threats post-pandemic, cyberattacks being just one. With SMBs typically functioning with less reserve, and often delivering conduit technology between other companies, having key business functions down for even a short period of time can have a major impact on livelihoods and reputations. Digital Ocean research shows that the biggest concern SMBs have about security in 2023 is lack of time to manage security.
With limited time and less in-house talent, SMBs can truly benefit from STaaS’ support in maintaining the safety of on-prem storage while at the same time gaining the benefits of third-party cloud management. Currently, according to Gartner, STaaS, containers and cyber storage for protection, detection and recovery of ransomware are seeing increasing deployments. With STaaS, SMBs can prioritize critical business functions and leverage storage as needed to support those functions. Additionally, STaaS lets SMBs shift the burden of service maintenance and support to a provider. With this remote management, SMBs can trust that business continuity and security are better assured.
STaaS is an ideal solution for SMBs looking to find balance with today’s competing priorities. It provides the security of on-prem storage along with the benefits of cloud-management—and allows SMBs to easily scale up and down as their needs grow and change. Storage as a Service from Hitachi Vantara offers pay-as-you-go, managed hybrid cloud block and object storage delivered through the Hitachi Vantara partner ecosystem. Custom STaaS services are also available as your needs change and grow.
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Gary Lyng
Gary Lyng is Vice President, Product Solutions Marketing, Hitachi Vantara.
