Scalable. Secure. Accessible from anywhere. If your CTO writes a wishlist for your data storage solution, it’s bound to hinge on these three factors.
But as the seismic shift towards remote working continues, there’s another factor we really need in this list for your cloud storage: making it easy to use. Sure, if your entire organization works out of a single public cloud ecosystem, that’s not (generally) so difficult.
But when a single public cloud provider is unable to meet a business’ operational, financial, backup or security requirements? Then it’s a natural move to switch to a hybrid cloud approach. Which offers solutions for many of the issues created by a reliance on solely public cloud storage – but it also brings new challenges to the table.
This is where unifying your hybrid storage can help.
By unifying your hybrid storage, you could solve the three challenges below, this year.
We’ve been investigating ways to make unified hybrid storage smart, simple, and efficient. That’s how we came across Storage Made Easy’s Enterprise File Fabric, which, used in combination with HyperDrive, can achieve highly scalable unified storage.
In the examples below, we’ve looked at how the combination of these two things can help you resolve common hybrid storage challenges – but for an in-depth examination, take a look at this solution brief.
Challenge #1 – Strict data residency requirements
Country-specific laws and policies have placed the onus on multi-regional companies to adopt edge computing strategies, in order to remain compliant while doing business in that region. This can be costly and create data silos across disparate locations.
HyperDrive’s power-efficient footprint and 1U size makes it an effective storage choice for edge deployments, maximizing density and minimizing operating costs. And with Storage Made Easy’s Enterprise File Fabric, displaying and searching across your combined storage can be managed with carefully defined access rulesets, meeting data residency requirements without locking individual edge deployments into isolated silos.
Challenge #2 – Data data everywhere… and none of it what you were looking for
We’ve already discussed data silos for edge deployment use cases, but even if you aren’t working at the edge, silos are a regular bane of hybrid cloud solutions. They create inefficiencies, impact the quality of information shared, and increase the potential of security risks where sensitive data is concerned. The end result of which is frustrated employees, who can’t find the information they are looking for. They’re not even sure whether it exists, because data is spread across so many disparate locations. It’s no surprise that silos are frequently identified as a key obstacle for a business’ digital transformation.
“United we stand, divided we fall” isn’t just a Brotherhood of Man song. It’s Storage Made Easy’s anthem, too. With their Enterprise File Fabric, you’ll get just that; a ‘single pane of glass’ view of your storage, which simplifies working with data in a hybrid cloud environment.
Challenge #3 – Barriers to collaboration
Collaboration is essential for remote workplaces. When we’re unable to effectively collaborate, it impacts processes, disrupts workflows and places an additional burden on employees who will need to waste time finding workarounds – which may not always be compliant with your organization’s security policies. Modern day enterprises are becoming increasingly globalized, with employees situated all over the world. And to ensure this global workforce can flexibly adapt to change and capitalize on new opportunities, it’s essential to identify and remove unnecessary bottlenecks.
Enterprise File Fabric does just this, enabling nuanced access rules that run over the top of your hybrid storage. Configure permissions for different data groups so that employees can collaborate with anyone, anywhere in the world – while always adhering to your internal security policies. With this solution deployed, global collaboration within and beyond your organization is a cinch.
Future-proof your enterprise with unified hybrid storage
Strict data residency requirements, platform-specific silos and barriers to collaboration are just the start of the problems you can solve with unified hybrid storage. When implemented well, it will deliver a cost-effective and efficient solution for your organization, enabling enterprise-wide productivity.
Discover how Storage Made Easy and SoftIron can set you on a path towards secure and simple collaboration within a unified hybrid cloud environment. Download our solution brief to begin your journey between accessible, scalable and secure hybrid storage.
