Close
  • Latest News
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Video
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Logo
Subscribe
Logo
  • Latest News
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Video
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Subscribe
    Home Cloud
    • Cloud
    • Cybersecurity
    • Innovation
    • IT Management
    • Storage

    New-Gen Data Protection vs. Shadow IT: A Huge IT Battlefield

    Written by

    Chris Preimesberger
    Published March 4, 2014
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin

      eWEEK content and product recommendations are editorially independent. We may make money when you click on links to our partners. Learn More.

      As the global IT storage hardware, software and services businesses move into another new year, we continue to see many of the usual-suspect problems, despite all the innovation that regularly emanates from vendors and entrepreneurs.

      These issues include the exponential proliferation of unstructured and structured data, larger and more frequent storage/archive deployments, security issues, a sharp increase in shadow IT, bottlenecks in networking, flat or shrinking IT budgets, and longer data-retention periods due to new rules and regulations. There are no signs of any of these diminishing in this calendar year.

      Current market demands are driving the need for even more cost-effective, long-term storage systems than have become available in the past. The market has matured to a point where accessibility and performance are essential to long-term data storage, security and preservation.

      Naturally, a large number of companies are busily trying to answer this demand by updating their products or coming out with entirely new ones. eWEEK gets a large number of pitches for these new storage hardware, software and services on a daily basis.

      ‘Good Balance’ Needed Between IT Control, Enterprise Staff

      “The biggest challenge that enterprise is facing is establishing a good balance between the type of control over data that IT is looking for, and the flexibility that their workforces are demanding,” Code42 chief architect Andrew Renz told eWEEK.

      Code42 owns its own storage cloud. The Minnesota-based company’s No. 1 product, CrashPlan, backs up data to remote servers, other computers, or hard drives and is available on Mac, Windows, Solaris and Linux PCs. The consumer version is sold on a freemium model–daily local backups are free–but using Code 42’s cloud service requires a paid subscription called CrashPlan+.

      “This (challenge) has been accelerated in the last few years in that users are increasingly saying that IT is too slow or not providing the type of tools that they’re interested in,” Renz said. “This drives the adoption of shadow IT that says: ‘I just need services to get my work done.’

      “For example, you go out and sign up for Google Drive or Dropbox, in order to exchange files with users because your Exchange email attachments can’t be more than 10 MB. That’s one example we see all the time. You’ve now just had your users put data in some external cloud service so you have no control or visibility. But they just went out and figured out a way to complete their work without involving you guys in IT.”

      How can this dilemma be solved? This is fodder for discussion in many enterprise meeting rooms around the country and the world.

      Key Industry Metrics Tell a Story

      Here are some recent industry metrics from respected IT researchers that show why the growth of shadow IT remains one of the top three IT issues of this era:

      —Unstructured data will account for 90 percent of all data in the next decade (IDC).

      —75 percent of all information in the digital universe is currently created by individuals, not enterprises (IDC). Enterprises touch that data 80 percent of the time it is in existence.

      —Only 50 percent of all that unstructured data has any type of protection (IDC). That is one of the more disconcerting metrics, no question about that.

      —More than half (52 percent) of people utilize multiple devices daily for work (Forrester Research).

      —About 300 million tablet PCs were sold worldwide in 2013. That number will triple to 905 million by 2017 (Forrester).

      —About 60 percent of all workers have used a personal device for a work task (Gartner Research).

      —About half of all enterprises will require workers to bring their own devices to work by 2017 (Gartner Research).

      —41 percent of workers have used an unsanctioned cloud storage service in the last six months, even though their companies have a policy forbidding it (Gartner).

      There are new-gen storage packages from several progressive-thinking vendors that combine on-premises and cloud storage and data protection and that also: a) keep business and personal files separate, and b) make them easy to access. eWEEK reports on them regularly; go to our Storage section to find the latest storage news.

      This week, we’ll be talking about these issues and market metrics and discussing practical ways to solve such problems in a special live Web “radio talk show” event. Renz, a former Apple software developer, will be the guest storage expert on our special live eWEEK Webinar Wednesday, March 5, at 11 a.m. Pacific/2 p.m. Eastern time.

      You can register for this free interactive event here. Hope you can join us on March 5.

      Chris Preimesberger
      Chris Preimesberger
      https://www.eweek.com/author/cpreimesberger/
      Chris J. Preimesberger is Editor Emeritus of eWEEK. In his 16 years and more than 5,000 articles at eWEEK, he distinguished himself in reporting and analysis of the business use of new-gen IT in a variety of sectors, including cloud computing, data center systems, storage, edge systems, security and others. In February 2017 and September 2018, Chris was named among the 250 most influential business journalists in the world (https://richtopia.com/inspirational-people/top-250-business-journalists/) by Richtopia, a UK research firm that used analytics to compile the ranking. He has won several national and regional awards for his work, including a 2011 Folio Award for a profile (https://www.eweek.com/cloud/marc-benioff-trend-seer-and-business-socialist/) of Salesforce founder/CEO Marc Benioff--the only time he has entered the competition. Previously, Chris was a founding editor of both IT Manager's Journal and DevX.com and was managing editor of Software Development magazine. He has been a stringer for the Associated Press since 1983 and resides in Silicon Valley.
      Linkedin Twitter

      Get the Free Newsletter!

      Subscribe to Daily Tech Insider for top news, trends & analysis

      Get the Free Newsletter!

      Subscribe to Daily Tech Insider for top news, trends & analysis

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Artificial Intelligence

      9 Best AI 3D Generators You Need...

      Sam Rinko - June 25, 2024 0
      AI 3D Generators are powerful tools for many different industries. Discover the best AI 3D Generators, and learn which is best for your specific use case.
      Read more
      Cloud

      RingCentral Expands Its Collaboration Platform

      Zeus Kerravala - November 22, 2023 0
      RingCentral adds AI-enabled contact center and hybrid event products to its suite of collaboration services.
      Read more
      Artificial Intelligence

      8 Best AI Data Analytics Software &...

      Aminu Abdullahi - January 18, 2024 0
      Learn the top AI data analytics software to use. Compare AI data analytics solutions & features to make the best choice for your business.
      Read more
      Latest News

      Zeus Kerravala on Networking: Multicloud, 5G, and...

      James Maguire - December 16, 2022 0
      I spoke with Zeus Kerravala, industry analyst at ZK Research, about the rapid changes in enterprise networking, as tech advances and digital transformation prompt...
      Read more
      Video

      Datadog President Amit Agarwal on Trends in...

      James Maguire - November 11, 2022 0
      I spoke with Amit Agarwal, President of Datadog, about infrastructure observability, from current trends to key challenges to the future of this rapidly growing...
      Read more
      Logo

      eWeek has the latest technology news and analysis, buying guides, and product reviews for IT professionals and technology buyers. The site’s focus is on innovative solutions and covering in-depth technical content. eWeek stays on the cutting edge of technology news and IT trends through interviews and expert analysis. Gain insight from top innovators and thought leaders in the fields of IT, business, enterprise software, startups, and more.

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Advertisers

      Advertise with TechnologyAdvice on eWeek and our other IT-focused platforms.

      Advertise with Us

      Menu

      • About eWeek
      • Subscribe to our Newsletter
      • Latest News

      Our Brands

      • Privacy Policy
      • Terms
      • About
      • Contact
      • Advertise
      • Sitemap
      • California – Do Not Sell My Information

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      © 2024 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.