Financial institutions face many challenges when it comes to data storage and protection. Increased regulatory guidelines, new banking technology and aging IT infrastructures continue to make storing and protecting data burdensome.
We have identified a few areas of importance for financial institutions to consider when selecting a storage solution to accommodate the unique IT environment financial institutions face.
Scalability
Storage capacity is an obvious consideration for all organizations, especially for financial institutions. Banking services continue to move away from face-to-face transactions and into a virtual environment; increasing the need for greater storage capacity. Anticipating future storage needs is difficult, and you certainly do not want to invest in a solution beyond current needs. Selecting a storage solution with a cost effective ability to scale storage capacities seamlessly, with minimal system disruption, is important.
Monitoring
IT departments wear many hats, and those hats continue to be added to the heads of IT professionals. Having a data storage provider monitor data 24/7, while providing complete status updates of escalations and workflows is vital to overall data storage system health. Partnering with a storage provider that can take one additional task from an overworked IT department will reduce the risk of system vulnerabilities.
Deduplication
Storage volumes are growing exponentially, and deduplication is a required technology used to reduce data volumes of redundant information. In a financial setting, regulatory requirements magnify this challenge. Eliminating duplicate data archives and making files as compact as possible allows companies to store increased amounts of data for a longer period of time at a reduced cost. Because deduplication is often utilized for long-term data storage, the ability to scale a deduplication is an important consideration as well.
Reporting
Internal and external audits are performed frequently in a financial setting. An automated storage system should provide tools to make gathering reports for audits and executives less of a burden. Again, as the amount of data collected increases, reporting will become more complex. Reducing the amount of work involved with gathering information is imperative.
A lot of work goes into collecting and storing data in a financial setting. Storage providers recognize this and are offering storage solutions that are more sophisticated to meet the demands of complex environments. Partnering with a storage provider that is reputable and provides industry-leading technology to reduce internal workloads will give financial institutions a competitive edge in an evolving climate.