IT modernisation series – NetApp: Threading & weaving a holistic data fabric
Unlike digital-first organisations, traditional businesses have a wealth of enterprise applications built up over decades, many of which continue to run core business processes.
In this series of articles we investigate how organisations are approaching the modernisation, replatforming and migration of legacy applications and related data services.
We look at the tools and technologies available encompassing aspects of change management and the use of APIs and containerisation (and more) to make legacy functionality and data available to cloud-native applications.
This post is presented by Matt Watts in his role as CTO for EMEA region at NetApp — the company is known for its work in the computer technologies industry specialising in data storage hardware and associated management software.
Watts writes as follows…
Businesses IT strategies must link to any organisation’s overall business objectives. Only by investing in the correct infrastructure or cloud provider to meet these goals will they truly achieve a successful and meaningful digital transformation.
It is imperative organisations realise that there will sometimes be complexity challenges to overcome in order to drive the best results. After all, not all clouds are created equal and the end result needs to be fit-for-purpose – finding ways to simplify this is the key.
Digital transformation is dependent on managing the exponential growth, intrinsic value and movement of data. This is why businesses should not opt for one solution e.g. purely public cloud, just because it’s in vogue or for the sake of going cloud-first.
Each environment be it public, private, on-prem or edge has its own unique strengths and weaknesses. Too often we are seeing businesses put all their eggs in one basket for the sake of speed and convenience over-thinking long term strategy, and some are now regretting it.
Weaving a holistic data fabric
To address these data challenges, gain competitive edge, and thrive in the digital transformation era, businesses need to be building well-considered and holistic data fabric strategies from the get-go.
With this in hand, businesses are able to make informed decisions and invest in the right infrastructure for the job to drive long term digital adoption and improved returns. Long term aside, businesses will also experience better functionality, increased productivity and performance, and overall happier users (be they customer or employee).
At its heart, successful digital transformation relies on intelligent and future-proofed deployment of new technologies.
Yes, new technologies can drive new revenue streams or drive greater efficiencies, however only when integrated as part of a well thought out data strategy.
More speed, less haste.
NetApp’s Watts