Data Protection has been and remains one of the core functions of IT organizations.  Critical applications and data require protection from events and disasters that corrupt, delete or prevent access to the information.  This includes human and application errors, system and network failures, malicious actions and natural disasters.  More recently, requirements have been added to data protection activities in the areas of security, regulatory compliance and data privacy.  And while data protection is a core responsibility of IT, it has often taken a backseat at the funding table when compared with spending needed to support new business applications and technologies.

The processes and solutions for protecting data have evolved slowly over time.  However, Evaluator Group believes we are entering a period of more significant change regarding data protection.  Unlike previous waves driven by a technology change – say the introduction of deduplication backup appliances – this period of change is driven by a combination of factors from inside and outside the IT organization and supported by technology advancements that offer new ways of solving data protection challenges.

In this Technical Insight we discuss some of the key drivers causing IT organizations to re-evaluate their data protection strategy.  The drivers are categorized into one of two areas – industry trends and challenges that impact data protection requirements and technology advancements to hardware and software solutions that offer enhanced data protection approaches.  A number of these drivers are not new, but some combination of these factors together with the realization by many IT organizations that their current data protection practices are no longer sufficient, is what will lead these IT organizations to improve their data protection practices.

Download now to read this free report.