Organization is by information and as today information expands exponentially, so does the need to manage it. Today, most of the organizations, small medium or large, tend to depend on IT systems to store their information. The old model of storing the information in hard copy had many problems. Improper data management, ineffective information flow and unavailability of information at critical times were some of the major problems. It led to efficiency loss and sometimes even impacted the organization’s effectiveness and loss of business. Any organization having intellectual property or confidential documents was always at risk as loss of single document could lead to changed competitive landscape.

Advent of Digital Storage
Motivation to get rid of the above mentioned issues was the main wave to make businesses look at digital data storage. Another driving force was usage of computer applications which were used to create documents. Since a soft-copy was produced, it can be stored. Today, businesses also face new regulatory compliance legislation frameworks and mandates like Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) and Health Information Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) that directly affect the way an organization stores and manages data. Some industries are under high pressure like financial services and healthcare as they handle sensitive information and are liable to maintaining data privacy and safety. Audit requirements also make them have effective processes to manage their client’s as well as organization’s information.

Having established that digital storage has to be an integral part of an organization, let us move further to the ways it can be done and is it worth investing in it.

The most rudimentary way of doing it is by storing the data on desktop machines. Though it ensures data storage, but integrity, manageability and associated problems exist. Central back-ups as part of the regular processes can ease the issues a bit but does not solve information sharing problems. So, is there any better way? Read on.

Online Storage
The new kid in the block is Online Storage. Though the concept is old, but it is gaining pace now due to availability of technology at lower investments and better RoIs as well as many benefits it carries along.

Online Storage is the concept of storing information online rather than on various workstations. It leverages on networking and makes the data available in a central location to let all the users of the organization access it. Many complex models of online storage exist today but even the basic models give you many benefits that can justify your investments to a large extent. If an organization can improve its efficiency by a simple check-in check-out process of centrally placed documents, the initial investment would not hurt as soft benefits would be numerous.

The portfolio that online storage encapsulates even includes business continuity planning as securing data is one of the major responsibilities of storage systems. Following section lists the major benefits that online storage can provide to an organization.

Manageability
Interdepartmental communication, speed of the document processing and classification of documents are some of the features enabled by online storage and they make the processes streamlined and efficient justifying the investments in the online storage in just a few years. Management looks for these tools so that organization can benefit in ling term and that is what it provides.

Risk Mitigation
Losing an important document is losing business directly or indirectly. It might add cost or hurt revenue or performance. Also, if a confidential document can be accessed by an unintended person, it can create problem for the organization. Competitive landscape can change if some information is leaked. What if the office caught fire? Re-constructing information can make you feel the pain of not investing in any storage strategy before. Online storage helps in mitigating all the above mentioned risks and many more. Disaster recovery through back-ups and coming back to the normal state of business functioning depends tremendously on storage strategy.

Access Control
Who will access which information is an important managerial issue. Classification and categorization of information and organizational data based on projects, knowledge management strategy and confidentiality is essential and no organization can avoid it.

Availability
Availability of correct and critical information helps tremendously in decision making and many organization leverage upon online storage for the same. When you go for your car servicing in any of the service station chains, they know the history of your vehicle anywhere anytime which helps them provide you commendable service.

Summary
There are many technologies with-in network storage domain that may be used by organizations based on the value proposition in a particular environment. Choosing the right one depends on many factors and it is a critical part of analysis done based on the data type and availability & performance requirements of an organizational to name a few.

As we have seen in the past as well that technological enhancements and changes take place more rapidly than can be thought of, the same applies to online storage arena. It is not always mandatory to choose the latest technologies available but the mandate is to choose the one that fits an organization’s requirements as it also involves process related changes. Thus, even the top management needs to be involved in the decision making to roll out the technology in an organization so that its business goals are aligned with the implementation.