Why Modern Data Protection is Critical to Your Hybrid Cloud Transformation

According to Flexera, 59% of enterprises name “migrating more workloads to cloud” as their top initiative for 2021. It’s no wonder considering the benefits associated with cloud computing, including reduced costs, enhanced collaboration capabilities, and greater flexibility.

And while different cloud providers offer different strengths, this often leads to companies adopting multiple cloud providers with unique cloud strategies. To help set themselves up for success, businesses should consider how cloud services fit into their overall IT landscape.

Common cloud misconceptions 

What was meant to be a simplifying technology can create new complexities where multiple cloud solutions generate vast amounts of data, stored in multiple locations, leading to governance and compliance challenges.

Cloud computing, which was intended to create an environment with a single pane of glass for easy visibility and governance, has become a fragmented, hybrid environment. In this environment, unifying your strategy by aligning decisions and mitigating data sprawl helps identify which systems need to connect to what, where the vulnerabilities are, where specific data is stored, and whether every data silo complies with local and federal laws and regulations. 

There are many reasons companies choose to keep some of their data on-premises or use multiple cloud providers. Approximately 93 percent of companies already use multiple cloud providers to assist with things like balancing different workloads and often companies try to avoid vendor lock-in. There is also the redundancy component – if one cloud provider experiences an outage, enterprises running in a hybrid environment are in a better position to avoid delaying business operations.

For example, you may want to keep multiple copies of your data in different locations for compliance, and governance. The 3-2-1 backup rule is an easy-to-remember acronym for a common approach to keeping data secure in almost any failure scenario. The rule is: keep at least three (3) copies of your data, and store two (2) backup copies on different storage media, with one (1) of them located offsite. You want to do all that you can to protect your data against common and uncommon hazards that may result in increased downtime and cost. Protecting data against disk failures, voltage surges, fire, or water hazards is fairly well documented. How about protecting your data from malicious attacks, and viruses?

CTOs need modern tools for modern data protection

What businesses need is a standardized way to envelop all their data; from all sources, across all cloud environments—and view and manage it in one place. This single source of truth is essential for the following:

• Mobility: Today’s work environment – both working remote and hybrid work models – requires flexible solutions for employees, so they can communicate and collaborate from anywhere in the world. This, of course, should be balanced by CTOs requiring visibility into their distributed workforce’s data in order to properly manage and secure it. 
• Security: With an understanding of every touchpoint for data access and data generation, enterprises can help in securing their workforce. Understanding who has access to your data, what is happening with your data, and what your data contains is key to identifying and recovering from a cyber disaster.
• Compliance: Different types of data have different compliance requirements, whether based on type (e.g., healthcare data) or geography. It’s important for businesses to know where their data is to ensure they aren’t inadvertently defying regulations.
• Governance: Data governance is about using best practices to manage data at every phase of the data lifecycle. This allows companies to ensure data protection while also generating value from their data instead of letting it stagnate.
• Backup and Restore: Companies need to know where their data is in order to protect it. According to IDC, the world will generate 175 zettabytes of data by 2025, presenting enormous backup and recovery challenges for CTOs.

That’s where Rubrik & NetApp come into play. With Rubrik’s orchestrated data services provided across NetApp’s data fabric, whether on-premises or in the cloud, enterprises can streamline data management while continuing to embrace the benefits of a multi-cloud strategy.

Download our free eBook, Data Storage and Data Protection – Your New Competitive Advantage: Recipes for Success, to learn how Rubrik and NetApp partner to protect, automate, and secure data across hybrid and multi-cloud environments. 

Like to learn more? Check out our on-demand Rubrik & NetApp Data Protection Summit, where you can learn about the future of the Rubrik and NetApp partnership and how we are helping our mutual customers automate data protection, unify management, and deliver instant recoveries while mobilizing data and applications.