Storage Virtualisation Can Control Data Explosion

Pertisth Mankotia, CIO, Sheela Foams talks to Biztech2.com about the challenges that arise due to data explosion within the enterprise and the best practices to help address them.

What key challenges do CIOs face with their enterprise data? How are you addressing these challenges?

Perhaps the biggest challenge that CIOs face is that the data keeps growing consistently, and it can cause problems at times because there is no way to stop it. It is usually very difficult to predict how the data of an organisation will grow and in what proportion. It is also not possible to restrict the inflow of data because additions to business are unavoidable, and as a result growing data becomes a continuous process.

We had implemented storage virtualisation to counter the ever-increasing enterprise data. Though it helped us to deal with the problem to a large extent, it did not resolve the issue entirely. We are now looking at centralised storage as an option to manage enterprise data efficiently.

How is this data explosion driving the need for enterprise data management within the enterprise?

The information is always present; it only requires to be converted to a pool of data that can be used readily. We have in-house systems and BI that work well for us. Now, the core data has to be stored. But, the amount of data generated from other operations keeps on increasing. For instance, we have recently started storing invoices too as records of information shared between dealers and distributors. Subsequently, the amount of data has increased manifold. And with this increase, the importance of enterprise data management has also grown immensely.

How critical a component is database management for an enterprise’s IT infrastructure?

Database management is the heart of any organisation, and it is very important to have the right database management systems in place so that the business runs smoothly. If the e-mail system is disrupted for a few hours, business can still carry on. But no CIO can afford to have a downtime in database management. We have established a designated DR site which helps in taking off the load from the main systems during peak activity hours. Thus, it acts as a load balancing system which is of great help to us.

What are the ways of handling legacy systems effectively in the overall data management scheme, and how can it pose a challenge to data management?

I feel that managing legacy systems as a part of data management should not be seen as a challenge. And, if one is able to manage it well, it can become an advantage to an organisation. We have a few home-grown systems, but we have managed them well. We have policies in place that really help us in managing legacy systems. For instance, we follow a rule that does not follow any duplication of data anywhere. Thus, employees, dealers and distributors, all have access to the same single copy of information which is stored and accessed centrally.