There’s no question that 250 billion photos, 13.3 years of HD video, or 17,000 years’ worth of music represents a very large amount of data—in fact, it adds up to approximately a petabyte.
For many organizations, this amount of data is all in a day’s work. The AI & Information Management Report found that the majority of organizations (64%) manage and store at least one petabyte of data and 41% of businesses have at least 500 petabytes of data.
Chaitra Vedullapalli, Co-Founder and CMO of digital strategy firm Meylah, says that managing this level of data is becoming a necessity for businesses to remain competitive.
“Businesses need to store large amounts of data encompassing transactions, research, customer lists, sales activities, legal documentation, programs, operations, technology code, and more,” says Vedullapalli.
“This extensive data collection is crucial for a multitude of purposes, including decision-making, enhancing operational efficiency, personalizing customer experiences, developing new products and solutions, and fulfilling legal and accounting requirements.”
What is Big Data?
According to Harvard Online, “The mass amount of data collected and accessed every second across the globe is often referred to as ‘big data’ and is used by every kind of industry and organization to shape businesses, cultures, and communities.” They explain that big data has positively impacted societies and communities through the following:
Healthcare advancements that provide clearer insight into disease prevention, diagnosis, and treatment
Improved public services that better use resources and enhance citizen engagement
Educational innovation and impact through personalized learning experiences, adaptive learning platforms, and data-driven teaching methods
Improving AI with Large Amounts of Data
Big data also makes a wide range of use cases possible for AI. Deloitte recently compared AI to electricity, saying that AI will eventually become a part of everything we do and we won’t even know it’s there. “We won’t ‘use’ AI. We’ll just experience a world where things work smarter, faster, and more intuitively—like magic, but grounded in algorithms,” explains the Deloitte Tech Trends 2025 report.
However, this level of AI use requires large volumes of data. Vedullapalli says that AI significantly amplifies the need for these large datasets, as it depends on vast amounts of diverse data to effectively train algorithms.
“The accuracy and utility of AI models improve with the quantity and quality of data provided, enabling more sophisticated and precise analytics and automation processes,” says Vedullapalli.
How to Store Big Data in the Cloud
Organizations can only unlock these use cases, including AI, by effectively managing and storing the large volumes of data that are needed. Businesses are increasingly turning to the cloud to store their petabytes of data.
When organizations use the cloud for their data storage, networking, and computing needs, they place applications in certain clouds depending on workload requirements. This makes storing and backing up data in the cloud more of a business process than a tech operation.
In multicloud and hybrid environments, choosing cloud vendors and managed service providers (MSPs) also becomes a critical part of the process.
Cloud storage enables more storage and more accessible data in multiple ways:
Allows organizations to locate data in specific regions for lower latency as well as adhering to compliance regulations
Lowers costs with monthly or pay-per-usage payment methods
Eliminates silos caused by traditional NAS appliances, which are complex to set up and operate
Does away with the need for dedicated file storage systems by virtualizing local storage devices into a unified pool that can be managed from a simple interface
Simplifies identification by using a single namespace to represent the file cluster, regardless of its size and the number of user sessions
Automatically optimizes access across workloads with intelligent sorting of hot and cold data and variable length I/O
Uses built-in software analytics from the vendor to ensure early detection of anomalies and risks, as well as better visibility on user permissions and the files they’re accessing
Using Nutanix to Improve Patient Care Through Cloud Storage
Organizations across all industries are seeing significant improvements to all aspects of operations and satisfaction by using cloud technology.
Doctors’ Center Hospital - Orlando Health, a Puerto Rican healthcare provider with over 60 years of experience, struggled with managing large amounts of data—especially data flow and access between the central hub and the other hospitals in the network. The healthcare system’s data centers had very little space, which contributed to downtime and unreliability issues that impacted patient care.
After implementing Nutanix’s hyperconverged infrastructure solutions, including Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI), Nutanix Cloud Management (NCM), and Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) for file services, the organization began running all medical records on Nutanix. Using Nutanix’s solutions, the healthcare system saw enhanced uptime and service as well as reduced costs and improved reliability.
The Unified network infrastructure allows for seamless communication and data sharing between different systems and locations. Additionally, all sensitive patient information and medical records remain secure and accessible with built-in redundancy and failover capabilities.
Using Open-Source Databases to Store Large Volumes of Data
Open source databases, such as DBaaS, offer an effective way for many organizations to overcome the challenges involved with managing data. With these databases, organizations can utilize freely accessible data storage using publicly available source code. Vedullapalli says open-source databases bring the following benefits to organizations managing large volumes of data:
Leverage to Accelerate Code Development: Using open-source databases can accelerate software development cycles. Developers can use and modify existing solutions instead of building from scratch, speeding up the deployment of new features and products.
Co-launching GTM Programs: Open-source databases provide a robust foundation for co-launching go-to-market (GTM) programs, enabling seamless data integration and management across partner ecosystems. These programs are crucial for businesses that rely on collaboration and shared technologies to reach the market faster and more efficiently.
Cost-effectiveness: Most open-source databases are free to use, significantly reducing upfront costs. Startups and enterprises looking to optimize their technology spend often find open source databases a smart choice.
Flexibility and Customization: Open-source solutions offer high levels of customization, allowing businesses to tailor the database to their specific needs without the limitations often found in proprietary software.
Community Support: Open source databases benefit from large, active communities. These contributors enhance the database’s features and security, ensuring that the software evolves in response to real-world user needs and technological advancements.
Interoperability: Open-source databases generally adhere to standard protocols, enhancing their compatibility with a wide range of applications and systems, which facilitates easier integration with existing business environments.
Be Data-Ready for Digital Maturity
The ability to manage high volumes of data significantly impacts an organization’s ability to achieve digital maturity. Businesses of all sizes and across markets are shifting from product-centric to customer-centric models because the ubiquitous availability and usability of information is making consumers more demanding of services.
This requires organizations to move to a high level of digital maturity, using digital processes and tools to transform the business through improved employee and customer processes. Digital maturity isn’t a destination, but a journey along a scale.
According to Gartner, organizations with low digital maturity “may be struggling to deploy, manage, and support digital workplace technology, and keep up with its accelerating update cadence.”
Gartner describes digitally mature organizations as “likely to be focusing primarily on empowering your workforce to do more with digital workplace technology and catalyzing transformation by partnering with the business to co-create technology solutions.”
Because embracing AI and automation is a foundation of digital maturity, organizations need the ability to manage high volumes of data to move through the stages of maturity and remain competitive in their industry. CIOs need to take the lead in assessing data readiness of their companies, making sure the necessary budgets are allocated and staff is empowered to gather, mine and use data for driving operational and strategic success.
This is an updated version of the article from Ditpi Parmar originally published on March 9, 2020.
Featured Image: Pexels
Dipti Parmar is a contributing writer. She has written for CIO.com, Entrepreneur, CMO.com and Inc. magazine. Follow her on Twitter @dipTparmar.
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