The use of data has become commonplace in business today as it drives intelligent decision-making from production to marketing. As a result, the need for secure, reliable, and efficient data storage solutions has increased. However, some businesses struggle with data storage due to a lack of proper infrastructure to handle growing data.

Fortunately, businesses are abandoning in-house storage systems in favour of cloud-based storage systems. Those systems have scalability advantages that small businesses can use to grow. Moreover, there are many companies out there that can help you figure out which option suits your needs the most. For example, businesses in Ohio can request Cincinnati managed IT services for data storage solutions.

Why Your Business Needs Scalable Data Storage

As your business grows and more customers come in, you’ll naturally have to deal with more data. Therefore, your infrastructure should be able to accommodate all the information you’ve collected and will collect.

While you can purchase more physical data storage units, they’ll increase expenses and use up more office space. Therefore, you need a scalable data storage solution for the following reasons:

1. More Flexibility

Today’s economy tends to demand that industries change rapidly. When that happens, businesses need to be flexible enough to meet the new demands and adapt quickly. This involves how data are stored, transferred, or used. Using traditional data storage solutions can make it hard for businesses to keep up with the changes. Hence, they may miss out on some crucial market trends that would’ve otherwise benefitted the company.

In contrast, using scalable data storage solutions means that the business is flexible and can adapt to any changes without changing their entire infrastructure. For example, if there’s more demand for storage, scalability allows the solution you’ve chosen to provide the required space. Also, if the storage demand is less, the solution should easily shrink to reduce business costs.

2. Can Accommodate Exponential Growth

When your business experiences exponential growth, it means you may move from gigabytes of data to terabytes of data in a few years. Using computer hardware to store this kind of data is almost impossible as it means you’ll have to buy more equipment and tools.

However, if you move to scalable cloud storage solutions, you don’t have to worry about purchasing more hardware. The service provider handles the storage capacity, and the most you can incur is extra expenses for more space. Therefore, if your business grows exponentially and you’re collecting more data, the storage solution won’t have a problem handling them.

3. Reduced Operating Expenses

Managing in-house storage facilities will require numerous resources, especially during peak business seasons. At such times, the demand for computing solutions increases, and therefore, more money needs to be allocated to purchasing hardware. However, during low business seasons, the hardware may have no use and little or no economic value.

Moreover, you might have to deal with extra costs in hiring an IT team to handle the data storage solutions, which means more recruitment expenses and wages. However, with scalable solutions, you can scale up or down depending on demand without acquiring extra hardware or a team of professionals.

4. Faster Deployment

It’s common for a business to receive a sudden spike in demand. Also, stored data may be required in the workflow or other business processes. In both cases, using traditional storage solutions will pose a significant challenge to the business as it involves assembling equipment, testing, and setting up connections to the business network. This could take weeks and slow down operations.

Using scalable solutions is the total opposite of that. Every physical computing solution is already taken care of by the cloud provider. Therefore, deployment only takes minutes. Also, the cloud solution can integrate with other applications in the system, so data are easily accessible, and the flow is seamless.

5. Easy Management

Managing an in-house data storage solution can be demanding. You’ll have to figure out how to handle the seasonal spikes and what hardware you’ll need to purchase. Moreover, the hardware may require compatible software, which makes management even more difficult.

But with scalable data storage solutions, you don’t need to worry about your infrastructure or your computing solution for years to come. Instead, you only have to think about what you have at the moment. Because it’s scalable and flexible, you only have to account for a month’s worth of computing solutions. This allows you to focus on other core activities in the business as management of data is simple.

Conclusion

Data are invaluable in business. Therefore, the storage solution you opt for should be reliable and efficient to allow your business to thrive in the years to come. Traditional storage solutions may have limited functionality compared to scalable cloud solutions. Scalable solutions are flexible, easy to manage, and can handle exponential growth, all which are beneficial to any business regardless of the industry it’s part of.