Data was already a critical area of investment that cuts to the core of modern business success. Data is essential for connecting with customers, supporting decision-making, and embracing innovation.
Things are only set to accelerate from here. AI is on the horizon, and AI success comes down entirely to the quality of the data sitting behind it. As noted by Gartner, for all the hype, enterprises haven’t quite started spending on AI solutions just yet, but that is coming.
AI is “top of mind for many business and IT leaders, [but] it is not yet significantly impacting IT spending levels,” John-David Lovelock, distinguished VP analyst at Gartner, said.
When it does start to impact, and enterprises start looking to push into AI and making even greater use of their data, the existing challenges that many face are going to accelerate.
This is why having a partner like Metropolitan Computers & Supplies, and access to technology from a leader in the space, like Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) and Intel®, is going to be so critical for interpreting the data opportunity into real business outcomes.
Where Do Data Headaches Come From?
Data is demanding, and when poorly managed or architected, can become very expensive, very quickly. Where organisations can most benefit from the support of experience and expertise in data include:
1) Current Ongoing Data Management Costs
It’s actually getting cheaper to store and manage data. The problem is that the amount of data being generated outpaces the lowering cost of storage services. Now, organisations face some real challenges: traditional data storage solutions are inefficient and costly to scale. Cloud storage, however, can quickly lead to “bill shock” if organisations are not aware of just how much data and licenses they have running through their services.
As a gold partner to HPE, Metropolitan Computers & Supplies can assist with designing storage environments all the way to large datacentres, and delivering end-to-end hardware-as-a-service solutions. Furthermore, our deep knowledge in financing solutions can assist you with preparing and executing a strategy to manage the costs of data.
2) Risk from Aging Equipment and Storage
As storage equipment ages, data availability becomes less certain, and lost data becomes more likely. Outdated infrastructure is more susceptible to failures, security breaches, and downtime. This can have severe implications for a company’s productivity and, in extreme cases, its ability to remain compliant by maintaining copies of critical data.
Organisations are often hesitant to plan upgrades to storage environments for fear of disruption, but Metropolitan Computers & Supplies maintains its own warehouses and can hold inventory for customers, meaning that hardware refreshes and upgrades can be carefully orchestrated. With more than 25 years experience with HPE, it’s possible to modernise a storage environment within budget and keep the data environment fully optimised.
3) The Need to Upgrade the Server Hardware to Support Future vSphere Versions
As technology evolves, so does the need for updated server hardware. Older hardware becomes a security liability and lacks features and support, as it can’t run more modern versions of vSphere.
Metropolitan Computers & Supplies, in collaboration with HPE and Intel®, offers a seamless transition path for organisations looking to upgrade their server hardware. HPE’s server solutions powered by Intel® are designed to be flexible and scalable, allowing businesses to adapt to changing software demands without major disruptions. This flexibility allows Metropolitan Computers & Suppliers to assist organisations to architect a solution that suits their needs. From there, the organisation will have the infrastructure to support their data delivery needs.
4) The Additional Cost for Managing “Hot” Data, to Target Analytics and AI
In the era of data-driven decision-making, enterprises are increasingly turning to analytics and AI to generate superior and deeper insights. These solutions require highly available and incredibly fast storage, however, and processing and managing this “hot” data comes at a premium.
To address that challenge, organisations need to be incredibly effective and efficient at categorising data, and effortlessly moving data between the hot and cold tiers as needed. HPE has the infrastructure required for those high-performance computing environments, and Metropolitan Computers & Supplies has the capability to support customers as they design the optimal environment.
5) The Skills Shortage is Severe (and Widening)
Australia is in the throes of a deep deficit when it comes to skills, and the gap is widening. Before organisations can begin to explore making advanced use of data, they need to first have the skills to roll out and manage these solutions.
Metropolitan Computers & Supplies provides a deep set of services that include technical support and works closely with customers on an ongoing basis. This allows organisations to confidently explore data solutions without needing to first plug all of the skills gaps that they may be facing.
What Does a “Data-First” Approach Mean?
Organisations that can overcome all of these hurdles with the support of Metropolitan Computers & Supplies and HPE can take a true data-first approach to IT. This means putting data at the centre of all the organisations operations and decision-making processes. It unlocks the opportunity to leverage automation and AI, and gives the organisation a strong competitive advantage for its ability to react quickly to market trends, improve the customer experience, and run more efficiently and productively.
Business transformation like this is possible with the support of Metropolitan Computers & Supplies and a tier-1 hardware partner like HPE and Intel®. From endpoint to server and cloud, you will be able to architect an IT environment that maximises the collection and use of data to drive better business outcomes.
Learn more about how Metropolitan Computers & Supplies supports organisations as they transform and embrace data [Link to PKF Case study on landing page]