Three out of five companies in Asia are overwhelmed by the amount of data they manage and 73% are concerned their current infrastructure will be unable to scale to meet upcoming demands, leaving them exposed to security challenges, according to a new global survey from Hitachi Vantara.
The data management research study was done by Reputation Leaders on February 9 to March 2, and surveyed 1,288 C-suite executives and IT leaders of companies across the United States, Brazil, Mexico, United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, India, Singapore, Indonesia, China, Australia, and New Zealand.
The report also revealed that most companies expect their data needs to nearly double in the next two years, complicating efforts to protect and manage the rapid growth of data in an actionable and sustainable way.
Key findings from Asia-based respondents show that data is their most valuable asset but are concerned about the security and resilience of their data infrastructure, with 70% of leaders concerned they cannot detect a data breach in time to protect their data.
Also, 73% of leaders are concerned over whether their organisation’s data infrastructure is resilient enough to recover data from ransomware attacks.
Further, 23% of respondents admitted that important data was not backed up and 33% had experienced data inaccessibility due to storage outages.
More than three quarters (77%) of IT leaders currently measure their data centre’s energy consumption. However, 32% acknowledged that their data infrastructure uses too much energy, and more than half (52%) admitted their sustainability policies do not address the impact of storing unused data.
Joe Ong, VP and general manager of Hitachi Vantara in ASEAN, said that the explosion in data volumes and the lack of the right data management infrastructure can lead to serious security and sustainability implications for companies in Asia.
“In just the first quarter of 2023, APAC witnessed the highest year-over-year increase in weekly cyberattacks, which reflects the region’s weaknesses in the areas of cybersecurity and data protection,” said Ong.
“In the next two years, most companies expect their data needs to nearly double and to be overwhelmed by the need to manage their data efficiently. This underscores the urgent need for advanced and modernised data infrastructure for better data protection and management,” he added.
The study also shed light on the future of data storage, with the hybrid cloud model leveraging a mix of public/private cloud, co-location and on-premises expected to persist.
For Asia business leaders, the study found that data was stored in an already established hybrid cloud, with percentages of data centre workloads split almost evenly among the private cloud (25%), public cloud (27%), on-premises (27%), and co-located/managed services (19%). By 2025, On-prem is expected to drop to 24%, while public cloud is expected to rise to 29%.
Results also indicate most organisations recognise the importance of working with third-party vendors for security, storage, and application services. Among the leaders surveyed in Asia, 50% said they needed the most help improving cybersecurity, and 77% want to see data infrastructure solutions providers use their expertise to actively aid in protecting the environment.
With the help of third-party vendors, companies can implement a deliberate strategy to propel their organisations toward becoming data-driven, unlocking new opportunities for growth and success.
