Changing... and Managing Change

Demand for storage capacity and information management are growing
exponentially because of e-business and other data-intensive applications. Large
online databases are required for corporate customer management and a host of
other critical business functions. As networks and e-business applications
become the mainstay of most corporations’ information technology
infrastructure, data storage has also become a critical issue in network design.

Exponential growth in the amount of information and the user’s desire to
store is forcing corporate information technology and communication managers to
focus on the importance of network storage. Adding corporate back-end storage
management needs with network storage needs, the need for a comprehensive
storage management solution for corporations becomes critical. The quantity of
data being generated by businesses today is growing at incredible rates. This
increase is placing significant pressure and constraints on corporate
information technology organizations. Faced with these pressures, businesses are
looking increasingly to enterprise storage management solutions to meet
explosive data expansion and just as importantly, to protect critical business
data.

Frost&Sullivan estimates that 50% of overall IT expenditure will be
directed towards storage management solutions and associated labor and material
costs by 2004. A key challenge that organizations face in storage management is
inadequate knowledge of their storage infrastructure. In many instances, it has
been observed that organizations in India often add storage resources in a
haphazard manner. They are often unaware of aspects such as the total number of
storage devices that have been used in the organization, their location, and
proper usage.

Frost&Sullivan further believes that organizations can overcome these
challenges by diligently preparing a roadmap as to how their storage management
requirements are likely to evolve during the course of next three-to-four years.
They need to understand the contours and costs of their current information
infrastructure and at the same time ensure that they have qualified and
experienced professionals so that they can reach their infrastructure goals
without any bottlenecks.

A majority of enterprises have not put in place a proper storage management
policy primarily because this is often regarded as a sensitive issue because in
a way by implementing such a policy the organization is putting a restriction on
the amount of storage one person or group can use and also limiting the types of
files that users can store on the storage service. In simple words, you are
asking the users to place limits on something they currently perceive as
infinite or free. Before implementing such a policy the users need to be
educated about the rationale behind putting in place such a policy and also
communicating to them how each individual user is likely to benefit from such an
initiative.

Organizations need to realize that storage management policy has little to do
with the technology and has more to do with changing the mindset of the actual
users. People need to be clear why the company is implementing storage
management. They need to know what their role in the process will be.

The writing is on the wall–there’s bound to be resistance by the users
when such a policy is brought into place in the organization and not everyone is
going to be happy with limits on how much and what they can store. The onus
would lie on the senior management to communicate the value proposition to the
end users so that the transition is smooth.

The author works with Frost & Sullivan He can be contacted at mail@dqindia.com