If your business is looking to use technology beneficially, the ability to store data is going to be a major consideration you are going to have to confront. Making sure you plan your storage data needs should be high on the list, but can be a daunting task. After all, not having enough storage space, or having too much, can be major problems for most businesses. Today, we’ll ask some of the most pressing questions you’ll need to answer to get the right storage space for your needs.

Storage is a major consideration, no matter what your business is. If you were in a position where you don’t have enough warehouse space available to keep your physical inventory, it would likely be expensive and a burden, the same goes for your data. 

Business Data

So, how to plan your storage data needs? Data is in every aspect of your business. Data is emails. It’s invoices. It’s every move your business makes. With that much data being kept, data storage has to be structured in a way where it will help the business. Since technology continues to evolve, this means data storage will as well. You want it to be efficient and affordable. 

The traditional model for data storage has been one made up of three tiers. You have storage facilities, servers that allow users to search those storage facilities and the networking angle that allows more users access to the data. Under this model, a business would have to understand exactly what data storage they need, and will need, for up to five years. If you are not aware of the kind of data storage options you have, we are here to help walk you through them. 

Today there are seemingly superior options that provide all the resources you need. Hyperconvergence is an IT framework that was created to deliberately reduce data center complexity and improve the scalability of physical hardware, while there are many cloud options available that deliver all the computing resources you need for an often-reasonably-priced monthly payment.

In any case, there are options out there. But you need to know what to look for. Here are four questions you should ask when looking at how to plan your data storage needs.

1. What capacity do I need? – Understanding the amount of data storage your company needs is a major determination. Today’s cloud solutions are more scalable, but by considering what type of storage your company is ultimately going to purchase. Price and safety would be considered here.
2. What about my performance needs? – Not all options are created equal. Some are faster and some offer huge storage capabilities. Knowing how you plan on using your applications and databases will go a long way toward helping you know which solutions will be right for you.
3. What does my current IT look like? – One consideration that has to be at the forefront of this process is what infrastructure do you already have in place. Knowing your current needs will help you ascertain how you are going to handle the future. Have you taken a recent IT inventory on everything your company uses?
4. How will you handle your backups? – Every business has to have a backup plan. If you depend on data, you likely can’t afford to lose any of it without some blowback. Having a comprehensive backup and recovery plan will ultimately dictate what any new data storage will look like.

Finding good solutions for your company is important in any regard, but when you are talking about the storage of what is quickly becoming your most prized asset, you should take your time and find the solutions that will work and not hinder your ability to create revenue. Call Symmetric IT Group to get started finding the right storage for you today at (813) 749-0895. We can help you plan your data storage and backup solutions every step of the way, to help maximize your business’s IT support. Check out our business continuity page if you would like more information.