For businesses looking to expand their storage capabilities, the public cloud offers a convenient starting point with quick advantages. Cloud technology is easy to implement, requires minimal initial investment, and can scale rapidly to accommodate increasing amounts of data, particularly unstructured data.
Gartner projects a significant increase in the amount of unstructured data that enterprises will need to store by 2026 compared to previous years. Additionally, a substantial portion of infrastructure and operations budgets are allocated to public cloud services. However, the demand for storage is growing across various types of infrastructure, including public and private cloud, network edge, and traditional on-premise hardware. As a result, many companies are investing in hybrid storage solutions to effectively store enterprise data.
Cloud storage offers numerous benefits, including flexibility, scalability, and cost efficiency. Major cloud providers now offer options for enhanced performance, making cloud storage a viable solution for high-demand applications. Object storage in the cloud allows a single data store to support multiple applications, making it particularly useful for advanced analytics and AI applications.
On the other hand, on-site storage has its own advantages, such as regulatory compliance, security, and predictable costs. Local storage also typically outperforms cloud storage for specific workloads and offers more control over data security and privacy. Organizations with highly sensitive data or specific performance requirements may prefer to keep data on-premise.
When determining where to store data, factors such as workload, application requirements, and data sources should be considered. A hybrid storage strategy, combining on-premise and cloud storage, is often the most effective approach to meet the diverse needs of a business. This strategy should be flexible, scalable, and aligned with the organization’s overall goals and requirements.
Ultimately, the best storage strategy for any organization is one that leverages the strengths of both cloud and on-premise storage options, adapting as business needs evolve.