The ongoing pandemic has transformed businesses operations. The need for remote work increases the need for data, putting data centres capacity at risk.
Faced with the record levels of data demand, data centres need to adapt rapidly and effectively to the shift in office mentality. Indeed, more and more businesses struggle to bring their employees back into the office. The workforce has had a taste of remote working, and they are not ready to let it go. In the future, we can safely assume that the majority of desk roles will be available in a remote or hybrid capacity. Digital technologies have made it easier for teams to cooperate, communicate, and create together in a virtual office environment. However, remote tech solutions rely extensively on the ability of small and medium businesses to meet the demand for data. Unfortunately, the pandemic has brought in-house data centres to a breaking point. So how can businesses future proof their IT infrastructure with new data centre solutions?
The inevitable data demand
As remote or hybrid work arrangements solidify, major business operations are transitioning permanently to a digital environment. Consequently, data creation is expected to continue its exponential growth. You might have heard it before; data is the new oil. It’s become one of the most valuable assets in the modern business world. However, unlike oil that could run out in the future, the volume of data creation is constantly growing. By 2025, we could be generating 463 exabytes of data every day. To put it in understandable terms, that’s the equivalent of 463 billion gigabytes. If you are still unsure what it means, it’s 463 followed by 18 zeros. And this asks an uncomfortable question: Can UK businesses handle so many zeros in their in-house data centres? The answer is no. Many businesses have already been struggling to store data during the pandemic. The situation is only going to get worse.
The alarming absence of new data infrastructure
IT investments have been on the rise since the pandemic to respond to the growing need for digital transformation. It makes sense to consider data centre infrastructure, and the need for more data calls for bigger and better in-house data centre facilities. Yet is bigger truly an option? Both the environment and real-time chip shortage crisis disagree.
Supply chain shortages have been the silent plague of the pandemic, affecting the construction of future data centres. As a result, the data centres need to increase data handling capacity within the same footprint. This can pose a significant environmental challenge in terms of overheating. Besides, the environment isn’t the only one to be affected. Businesses also pay dearly for the heat stress, which affects data centre services and maintenance, ultimately leading to increased risk of interruptions. Additionally, it goes without saying that when the demand increase, the price soars too. Will in-house data centres become an unaffordable resource for small businesses?
What happens when in-house data centres meet their limitations?
Businesses face a delicate situation with in-house data centres. With limited options for growth and construction, they need to control data usage. They often combine different strategies, such as removing data and avoiding data-generating tools.
Additionally, overstretched data centres can reduce data access, lose data through lack of maintenance, or even cause operations to come to a standstill. Unfortunately, in a business environment built on data accessibility, in-house data centres could risk business survival.
Optimising data centre space and functions
It’s time for small businesses to seek practical, reliable, and cost-effective data centre solutions to meet their data needs. How much data does a small business need? The answer is akin to how much a business can afford to spend on data centres. Unfortunately, CIOs must rely more and more on budgetary availability rather than data volume assessments to determine the business needs. Yet, it appears evident that the growing demand for data needs a sustainable solution. When building from scratch is not an option, perhaps sharing under-utilised space could be the way forward. That’s precisely where colocation hosting can deliver the answer businesses seek. Using modular UPS (uninterruptible power supply), professional data centres can scale and schedule operations without facing the same cost issues as in-house centres.
Colocation services can maximise space usage in data centres while reducing overheating risks. For businesses, it’s the equivalent of renting out the necessary rack space for their data. The outsourced data centre oversees hardware maintenance and operations, and the process significantly reduces operational costs, ensuring data can remain available and accessible at all times.
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