The Biggest Issues in Data Storage, and How to Overcome Them

In a world that is more data-focused than ever before, a lot of company’s’ focus lands on analytics, the central problem being what to do with all the data that they have amassed.

It is a pretty important problem to get right, but you won’t be able to achieve this if you don’t have a long-term data storage solution that is not only efficient but can provide you with a stable foundation as well.

At the end of the day, there’s no way that you can analyze data if you’ve got nowhere to store it.

With this in mind, what are the biggest data storage problems today, and how you can you get past them?

1. Infrastructure

Data needs a place to be safely stored, the same way that a product needs a container or shelf. If you plan on storing away huge amounts of data, then you will need the right infrastructure for this.

A lot of the time, this means investing in high tech servers that will take up a significant space in your building or office.

One of the easiest ways to get around this is use cloud storage or cloud hosting, which makes the most of another company’s infrastructure to save you space, and help you avoid setting things up for yourself.

2. Cost

You might not realize this but running your own data center is a pretty expensive operation. Not only will you need to spend money on the initial setup, but you will need to spend money on ongoing maintenance, as well as the cost associated with the people who are maintaining it.

Again, the best solution for this issue is to outsource the work, and while you will probably have to pay someone a monthly fee, you are going to end up saving money in the long run.

3. Security

Another major issue when it comes to data storage is security. If you have your data stored somewhere, then there’s no reason why a third party can’t access it. This is why you need to implement many different layers of security that can help prevent unauthorized access. These levels include reliance on third-party providers and encryption, but there is always a limit to how well they can protect you.

Even the FBI has issues maintaining the security of its data. This is why you will need to make sure you run a tight operation and choose the best third-party partners to team up with that are prepared to maintain best practices at all times.

4. Corruption

Naturally, every form of data storage out there has the potential to be corrupted. Stray particles can get in the way of most forms of data storage, and anything that relies on electric storage or magnetic strips can be corrupted through electromagnetic interference. This means that even if you haven’t got an outside source interfering with it directly, data can begin to degrade over time.

Your best protection against this is to utilize multiple backups. The more backups you’ve got for your data, the harder it’s going to be for it to become corrupted.

5. Scale

You might have finally been able to find a storage solution that serves your current data needs, but what happens if that data grows exponentially over the next few years? How are you going to account for those needs if they look vastly different in five years? This is why your data storage solution needs room for growth and allow you to scale.

We think that it’s important to give yourself as many options as possible, especially as you aren’t sure exactly how those needs are going to change in the future, or how much data you will want stored at that point.

6. Accessibility and UI

Of course, you have every reason to focus on securely storing your data and making sure that it has a good foundation. However, if it is difficult to access, then it won’t be much use to you. At the end of the day, data storage is a temporary measure, so that you can analyze the data and use it to advance your business.

As a result, you will need to use some kind of system that has a user-friendly interface, and clean accessibility so that you can protect your data yet access it whenever you need to.

7. Compatibility

If you plan on integrating multiple systems with one another, then you will need to make sure that they are compatible. You will need to find the right data storage partner that has a clean system of transition as well as an open API, so that you can integrate other software without having any issues.

Other Issues

There are other factors that can make these issues even worse. These include volume, which means that the more data you will need to store, the more complicated these problems become. What might work well for a small amount of data may not work for larger data demands.

Another complication is predictability. You might not be able to predict your long-term or short-term storage needs, which makes it almost impossible to accurately forecast your data storage requirements.

Lastly, most companies out there need to secure the agreement of more than one internal leader as well as external partners when it comes to making a decision related to their data. This can slow down the entire process and make compromises more challenging.

Final Thoughts

The good thing about data storage solutions is that there’s a constant pace of innovation to find better and newer solutions to data storage problems.

The more you understand the core problems that are faced with data storage, the better solutions you can come up with to correct them.