It’s time to bring the cloud experience everywhere to simplify operations and move faster. Learn how eliminating complexity with cloud operations frees you to accelerate digital transformation with data-first modernization.
The universe of enterprises on the wrong side of this transformation divide is large – and the business consequences are increasingly profound. According to KPMG, 67% of CEOs feel they’re losing ground despite major investments in digital transformation.[1] Meanwhile, McKinsey finds that top performers have doubled their profits in the last 12 months.[2]
If we look closer, we find there’s a crucial differentiator across the transformation divide: data. As the life force of the modern enterprise, data is key to activating next-gen operating and business models that drive businesses forward, faster. Unlocking the value of data enables enterprises to accelerate decision velocity, speed innovation and time to market, reimagine customer experiences, and improve operational efficiency.
Once we recognize the centrality of data, it becomes clear that data-first modernization is key to crossing the transformation divide and gaining business advantage. Data-first modernization shifts the focus from infrastructure-centric transformation to data-centric value creation, and elevates data as the pre-eminent organizing principle of a company.
First, deal with all the complexity
But here’s where IT complexity gets in the way. Achieving data-first modernization requires organizations to eliminate the data and infrastructure complexity that has plagued IT for so long. As ESG notes,[3] 93% of IT decision makers say data complexity represents a critical hindrance to the velocity of business transformation — lowering agility, efficiency, and innovation, but also elevating business risk. Meanwhile, 74% acknowledge their data management capabilities can’t keep pace with business requirements,[4] and 59% view the situation as worsening over time.[5]
So what’s the answer? The cloud model holds the key. Public cloud has set the standard for agility, with a cloud operational model that enables line of business owners and developers to build and deploy new applications, services, and projects faster than ever before. Cloud operations render underlying infrastructure invisible, enabling a shift to app-centric operations.
Now take that idea a step further: a cloud operational experience that simplifies data management wherever apps and data live, from edge to cloud. Why is that important? Right now, up to 70% of enterprise apps and data remain on-premises[6] – in data centers, co-locations, and at the edge – for good business reasons: data gravity, latency, application dependency, and regulatory compliance. True data-first transformation has to encompass the entire enterprise.
Based on research from ESG, IT leaders agree that simplifying operations and moving faster with a cloud experience everywhere is critical to organizations: 91% identify mature cloud operations on-premises as the single most important step to eliminating complexity, and more than four out of five say they are under pressure to deliver more cloud experiences to end users.[7]
To start your data-first transformation, look to your data infrastructure
So, data is the key, and thus simplifying data management and data infrastructure with a cloud operational experience everywhere – the essence of data-first transformation – must be top of mind for IT leaders. But where do we begin?
We would suggest the answer lies with your storage. A key part of the transformation journey involves primary storage moving to an as-a-service model – which, done right, can be an entry point to precisely the kind of cloud operational experience we’ve described above. Storage-as-a-service (STaaS) radically simplifies and automates storage operations, enabling IT to meet ever-increasing business needs and deliver the agility that line of business owners and developers require to go faster.
There’s STaaS, and then there’s STaaS
You’re probably familiar with STaaS as a solution that lets you consume resources where and when you need them — and that’s a significant benefit to every organization. But on-demand consumption is only the beginning of the storage-as-a-service experience.
True, no-compromise STaaS – like HPE GreenLake for Storage – enables simplified data management via a cloud operational experience across your infrastructure, whether it’s located at distributed edge locations, within your on-premises data center, or at a co-location facility. This advanced STaaS harnesses the agility and flexibility of cloud operations – not just to deliver on-demand consumption, but to provide the simplified data management that transforms IT from an operator to a service provider, aligning storage with the needs of the business and enabling IT to focus on accelerating outcomes, not managing infrastructure.
Transform faster with HPE GreenLake for Storage
As true, no-compromise STaaS, HPE GreenLake for Storage goes well beyond on-demand consumption:
- Consume storage as a service. Some storage vendors make a lot of noise about on-demand consumption, but in reality this is table stakes when it comes to STaaS. Pay-per use, scale on demand, quickly available storage resources – all of which you get with HPE GreenLake for Storage – let you shift from owning and maintaining data infrastructure to simply accessing and utilizing it. IT avoids over-provisioning and under-provisioning concerns, capex budget constraints, and complex procurement cycles. But given overwhelming complexity, true STaaS can’t start and end with self-service ordering and on-demand consumption – because that only partly addresses the challenges of harnessing modern data sets and data infrastructure.
- Simplify operations with cloud agility. HPE GreenLake for Storage changes the data management game entirely — by bringing cloud operational agility and simplicity to data infrastructure across edge to cloud. Leveraging AIOps, HPE GreenLake for Storage makes underlying data infrastructure invisible – eliminating silos, complexity, and the burden of day-to-day storage administration while shifting operations to be app, not infrastructure, centric. Even better, this type of STaaS provides the self-service agility that accelerates development cycles and time to market for new apps, services, and projects, even as it frees IT to work on other strategic, high-value initiatives.
- Run any app without compromise. HPE GreenLake for Storage meets any SLA for any app, from traditional to modern, with exactly the right performance, resiliency, and efficiency. This is how true STaaS enables you to leap across the transformation divide: instead of having to select a specific storage system or configuration, you’re able to drive innovation and productivity simply by choosing the service levels that your workloads require with an as-a-service portfolio of proven, enterprise-grade, on-premises cloud data services. Nothing to hold you back, and everything you need to accelerate.
How do customers experience accelerated outcomes with HPE GreenLake for Storage? Think increased agility delivering 98% operational time savings,[8] while time to value drops by 75% due to fast deployment of digital projects.[9] At the same time, customers slash risk with 100% availability guaranteed for mission critical workloads[10] – and improve the bottom line with a 30-40% TCO savings by virtue of eliminating overprovisioning.[11]
Ready to seize the data-driven advantage? We’ve got a handy how-to.
In the end, to leap the transformation divide, organizations must focus on data-first modernization, and that’s precisely what makes simplifying infrastructure and data management with cloud operations and STaaS so critical. For a roadmap of how to
With this guide, you’ll be able to deep dive on critical aspects of data-first transformation, such as:
- Reasons why data and infrastructure management complexity are your core IT challenges, and how you can reimagine your approach to data management
- What it means to bring a cloud operational experience to your apps and data wherever they live
- Why modernizing data protection is so important in the effort to achieve data-driven transformation
- How simplified data management accelerates innovation by addressing the myriad challenges of data access and infrastructure complexity
- Tips for simplifying data management with a true STaaS solution like HPE GreenLake for Storage as you unleash the power of your data
There’s much to further your knowledge. Happy reading!
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[1] KPMG Global CEO Outlook Survey
[2] https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/the-great-acceleration
[3] ESG Data Management Survey, April 2021
[4] HPE Data Management Maturity Research, November 2021
[5] ESG Data Management Survey, April 2021
[6] IDC Cloud Pulse
[7] HPE Data Management Maturity Research, November 2021
[8] Comparison of infrastructure lifecycle management of HPE Alletra vs. ESG Market Research , April 2021
[9] A commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting, The Total Economic Impact of HPE GreenLake, May 2020
[10] HPE 100% Availability Guarantee, HPE Alletra 9000
[11] A commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting, The Total Economic Impact of HPE GreenLake, May 2020
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