Over 69% of enterprises are reportedly re-evaluating their data protection strategy. This is according to a recent Evaluator Group report, which also discovered that digital transformation is driving this shift.

A high likelihood of change

In order to gather the data, Evaluator Group conducted a survey and in-depth interviews with data protection administrators and architects. Overall, interview respondents represented differing responsibility levels.

“From the interviews and surveying used to create this report, it is clear that there is a high likelihood of change, with 57% of respondents citing intention to replace or augment their current solution,” Camberley Bates, Managing Partner, Evaluator Group said. “This is just the beginning of the journey as clients grapple with the data-driven economy.”

The report evaluated end-to-end technologies that are part of data protection strategies. Steve Scully, Senior Analyst at Evaluator Group, said that "while backup is core, it is only part of an overall strategy.”

Interest is high in new tech

The report found that new technologies, such as scale-out systems and public cloud, are currently interesting IT end users. Scully added that respondents were also keen to find out how to "address some of their cost and functional issues even while many continue to rely on tape.”

In fact, over 45% cited tape as a crucial part of their current enterprise data protection strategy. Nevertheless, the report highlighted that likelihood of change over the next two years is 57%.

Digital transformation is also catalysing the evolution of traditional architecture. According to the report, enterprises are now beginning to seek out better solutions for their growing data requirements.

One potential data protection solution incorporates artificial intelligence (AI). Last year, enterprise data protection vendor Veritas introduced a new tool that uses AI algorithms to provide operational support before problems even occur.

Companies are now investing more than ever in managing, storing, and leveraging the power of their data. However, these crucial functions are on the cusp of change as enterprises require cost-effective solutions with the least possible downtime.

Many companies are now seeking to leverage data and data platforms for strategic advantage. We spoke to Cloudera and Deutsche Telekom to find out about how they are changing the world of data management