Tackle Explosive Data Growth on a Tight Storage Budget
Get a grip on storage capacity requirements and take action to ensure that every dollar spent buys maximum value.
- Most businesses face unprecedented data growth. Simply purchasing more raw storage capacity is not an affordable option in the long term.
- Vendor noise is incredibly prevalent in the storage space. Cut though this noise and close your storage affordability gap through use of best practices identified by Info-Tech.
Our Advice
Critical Insight
- Think in terms of data growth, not storage growth. Harness thorough capacity planning and analysis as the important first step towards enabling affordable data growth.
- Cut through the vendor rhetoric; there is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all-approach to affordable storage. Only after your organization’s unique requirements and constraints are considered can appropriate processes and technologies be applied.
- Mitigate storage growth with the “one-two punch” of policy and technology. Addressing storage with only one of these approaches is like boxing with one hand tied behind your back.
Impact and Result
- Fight data growth at the source by assessing storage processes and efficiency improvements before considering expanding capacity.
- Shift storage from being a financial burden to a source of competitive advantage.
Workshop: Tackle Explosive Data Growth on a Tight Storage Budget
Workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.
Module 1: Understand the Data Growth Challenge
The Purpose
- Develop an understanding of the factors driving data growth.
- Define your organization’s storage affordability gap.
Key Benefits Achieved
This step will enable you to:
- Understand the status quo state of data growth and storage in order to make smarter decisions moving forward.
Activities
Outputs
Understand your data growth challenge
- Foundational understanding of problem drivers
Create the client specific storage affordability gap visual
- Clarification around why storage is so expensive and where there are opportunities for optimization
Module 2: Conduct the Evolution of Storage Assessment
The Purpose
After completing this module, you will have:
- Documented key information about the existing storage environment.
- An understanding of the relative impact of current and future data growth drivers.
- An understanding of the when, where, and magnitude of any required storage expansion.
Key Benefits Achieved
This step will enable you to:
- Plan: Accommodate the timing and magnitude of required storage capacity expansion. Ensure business continuity and decrease risks.
- Optimize Storage Structures: Quantify the impact of potential changes to the structure of current and future storage environments.
- Avoid Wasteful Investment: Make smarter purchasing decisions as a result of increased clarity about what the organization needs.
Activities
Outputs
Identify data growth drivers and determine growth requirements
Analyze growth impact across drivers and understand sensitivities
Identify storage structures and determine their relative growth burden
Analyze overall capacity expansion requirements and bottlenecks
Determine timing of required storage expansion for each structure and optimize data distribution to delay and minimize expenditures
- The Evolution of Storage Maps: Documented understanding of the when, where, and magnitude of any required storage expansion
Module 3: Identify Storage Processes and Priorities
The Purpose
After completing this module, you will have:
- Identified and documented existing storage optimization processes in use by your organization.
- Identified and documented both financial and non-financial goals, preferences, and constraints that will impact the applicability of storage solutions.
Key Benefits Achieved
These activities will enable you to:
- Ensure storage optimization solutions selected in the subsequent scorecard fit with your organization’s requirements.
- Ensure storage expansion solutions selected in the subsequent scorecard fit with your organization’s requirements.
- Provide a solid rationale to stakeholders for decisions made in the storage growth plan.
Activities
Outputs
Document existing storage optimization approaches in use at your organization
Identify overarching business goals and priorities impacting storage decisions
Identify financial resources, constraints, and preferences impacting storage decisions
Aggregate and prioritize both business and financial goals to assist in solution selection
- Documentation of key guiding factors for selecting affordable storage growth solutions
Module 4: Assess and Select Storage Optimization Solutions
The Purpose
After completing this module, you will have:
- A scored hierarchy of storage optimization solutions.
- A shortlist of proposed storage optimization solutions.
- An estimation of the effect size of proposed solutions.
Key Benefits Achieved
This step will enable you to:
- Select solutions according to fit with your organization’s storage goals.
- Quantify value of proposed solutions to justify decision making.
Activities
Outputs
Harness the Storage Optimization Options Scorecard to compare approaches
Progress through optimization profiles in the storyboard
Discuss profiles with Analyst, clarify the extent of implementation if already in use, and assign a score for each business goal
Determine the shortlist of top approaches based on scores
Discuss the quantitative effects of implementing these solutions
- Storage Optimization Options Shortlist
Module 5: Assess and Select Storage Expansion Approaches
The Purpose
After completing this module, you will have:
- A scored hierarchy of storage expansion options.
- A shortlist of proposed storage expansion options.
- An estimation of the effect size of proposed solutions.
Key Benefits Achieved
These activities will enable you to:
- Select expansion approaches according to fit with your organization’s storage goals.
- Quantify value of proposed solutions to justify decision making.
Activities
Outputs
Harness the Storage Expansion Options Scorecard to compare approaches
Progress through expansion profiles in the storyboard
Discuss profiles with Analyst, clarify the extent of implementation if already in use, and assign a score for each business goal
Determine the shortlist of top approaches based on scores
Discuss the quantitative effects of implementing these solutions
- Storage Expansion Options Shortlist
Module 6: Create the Storage Growth Plan
The Purpose
After completing this module, you will have:
- The Storage Growth Plan Executive Summary Document. This plan details all recommended solutions to accomplish affordable storage growth.
- Summary of supporting analysis and financials from throughout this project.
- Detailed implementation considerations and project roadmap.
- Detailed project costing and ROI calculation.
Key Benefits Achieved
These activities will enable you to:
- Consider all execution factors around how your organization will achieve affordable storage growth.
- Persuasively communicate the benefits of implementing this Storage Growth Plan to key stakeholders.
- Quantify the overall value of completing this project and all associated sub-projects.
Activities
Outputs
Understand and quantify the net benefits of completing this project
Identify key stakeholders involved in the approvals and implementation process
Map out key implementation steps and timing
Establish initiative ownership and accountability of roles
Prioritize and mitigate risks in implementation activities
Use the Executive Summary Template to brief and guide key stakeholders
- The Storage Growth Plan Executive Summary Template
About Info-Tech
Info-Tech Research Group is the world’s fastest-growing information technology research and advisory company, proudly serving over 30,000 IT professionals.
We produce unbiased and highly relevant research to help CIOs and IT leaders make strategic, timely, and well-informed decisions. We partner closely with IT teams to provide everything they need, from actionable tools to analyst guidance, ensuring they deliver measurable results for their organizations.
What Is a Blueprint?
A blueprint is designed to be a roadmap, containing a methodology and the tools and templates you need to solve your IT problems.
Each blueprint can be accompanied by a Guided Implementation that provides you access to our world-class analysts to help you get through the project.
Need Extra Help?
Speak With An Analyst
Get the help you need in this 1-phase advisory process. You'll receive 5 touchpoints with our researchers, all included in your membership.
- Call 1: Interpret the Evolution of Storage Assessment
Integrate Info-Tech analyst feedback to most accurately use our storage analysis and capacity planning tools.
- Call 2: Identify Storage Practices and Priorities
Integrate Info-Tech analyst feedback to assist with identification and prioritization of the guiding factors for upcoming solution selection.
- Call 3: Assess & Select Storage Optimization Approaches
Integrate Info-Tech analyst feedback to assist with assessment of best practice and niche optimization approaches, as well as creation of your Storage Optimization Approaches Shortlist.
- Call 4: Assess & Select Expansion Options
Integrate Info-Tech analyst feedback to assist with assessment of storage expansion approaches, as well as creation of your Storage Expansion Options Shortlist.
- Call 5: Discuss Execution Considerations
Integrate Info-Tech analyst feedback to improve upon your initial Storage Growth Plan draft, and discuss key risks and implementation pitfalls.
Contributors
- Jaspal Singh, Business Technology Program Manager, Sacramento Municipal Utilities District
- Sterling Unan, Director IT, George Weiss and Associates
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