Key Factors to Consider When Calculating ROI of Data Archiving
When evaluating the potential return on investment (ROI) of a data archiving solution, several key factors should be considered:
Reduced Reliance on Tape: Transitioning from tape-based archiving to cloud-based solutions eliminates costs associated with purchasing, storing, and managing physical tapes.
According to a study conducted by IDC, the premier global market intelligence firm, organizations saved an average of $598,193 per year on tape media and tape drives alone by adopting data archiving systems. Ref: White Paper: The ROI of Consolidating Backup and Archive Data.
Elimination of Standalone Archive Systems: Consolidated solutions eliminate the need for separate, purpose-built archiving systems, resulting in savings on hardware, software, maintenance, and potential upgrade costs.
The IDC study notes average savings of $66,590 in this area.
Optimized Storage Footprint: Efficient data deduplication and compression technologies inherent in modern archiving solutions minimize the overall storage space required. This translates to reduced storage hardware, power, and cooling costs.
Simplified Management: Centralized management of archived data streamlines administrative tasks, reducing the time and resources required for storage management. This can lead to savings in IT staff time and potentially eliminate the need for dedicated archiving staff.
Faster Data Retrieval: Modern archiving solutions offer faster and more efficient data search and retrieval compared to traditional methods like tape backups.
The IDC study provides an example where a company reduced its data retrieval process from eight hours to 30 minutes, a 90% improvement in efficiency.
The IDC study highlights an 86% reduction in restore time for the organizations studied.
Less Time Spent on Routine Tasks: Automation of routine archiving tasks such as data migration, retention policy enforcement, and reporting free up IT staff for more strategic initiatives.
The IDC study shows that organizations reduced the time spent on storage management tasks by 59%.
Minimized Downtime: Faster backup, restore, and retrieval processes result in less downtime for end-users, allowing them to remain productive.
The organizations in the IDC study saw an 81% improvement in end-user productivity.
Improved Data Accessibility: Streamlined search and retrieval functionalities empower end-users to access archived data quickly and efficiently, reducing time wasted on data requests and retrieval.
Mitigated Data Loss Risk: Robust archiving solutions provide an extra layer of data protection, reducing the risk of data loss due to hardware failures, accidental deletions, or disasters.
Enhanced Compliance: Features like data immutability, retention policy enforcement, and detailed audit trails help organizations meet regulatory and legal requirements related to data retention and storage.
Security: With enhanced Fine-Grained Entitlements, users have access to exactly what they need for their role and nothing more. Immutability of archived data ensures that no bad actors – internal nor external can manipulate the archives effectively providing protection from Ransomware attacks.