As we approach 2016, one major trend emerges: it will be the year for data management, especially for “dark data”.
Like old items stored in the garage that never see the light of day, “dark data” is the vast amount of data that organizations have accumulated over the years – but rarely if ever use for actionable business insights.
However, this dark data is not necessarily harmless – much dark data is unstructured user-generated content that can contain sensitive information.
If organizations do not properly manage or secure their “dark data”, then the data could put them at high risk of cyberattacks, not to mention straining budgets and management systems as the dark data accelerates.
That’s why we’re calling on Middle East organizations to do “spring cleaning” of their dark data in 2016, and ask hard questions about reducing their business complexity.
The kinds of dark data questions that organizations should ask are: How much dark data do we have? What tools will we use to classify the dark data? And which kinds of data are we going to keep, and which kinds are we going to discard?
CIOs and CEOs will need to make the tough decisions on which data to keep or toss, how to improve data access, and business analytics for driving competitive advantage.
On the merger and acquisition front, 2015 was a very significant year for IT companies, with the Symantec and Veritas split and the Dell-EMC merger. We expect these events to bring huge opportunities to Middle East customers and supply chain.
These organizations will emerge more focused and more energized, and willing to do even more research and development and investment in new technologies, from information and data management to threat protection and security.
With our Platinum Partner status with Veritas, and Tier 1 status in EMC’s partner program, we’re committed to building on our trust-based relationships and helping the region’s organizations make the tough data decisions for 2016.
