Needless to say there’s been a lot of reflection on our first decade, going from reinventing the storage array, to offering storage-as-a-service and the most cloud-like storage experience. In that time, data driven digital transformation has become central to any successful business strategy – and we’re equipping businesses with the tools to enable this. These tools are changing the game in regards to data disruption.
Businesses don’t deserve to be held back because of legacy systems. Having an automated view of data management frees up time and resources, so organisations can focus on creating a culture of innovation and enabling long term thinking to drive revenue growth. The Pure Storage data platform is all about removing complexities and antiquated systems, and replacing them with fast, flexible and agile solutions to fit the needs and demands of organisations today.
A Global Outlook on Digital Transformation and Data Disruption
Although we know all businesses want to do more with data, a broad brush approach to helping them solve problems doesn’t work.
For example, Australians are very much early tech adopters, and have really embraced our Pure-as-a-service offering. Asian markets tend to be a little more conservative in their approach and purchasing decisions, but when you consider the size of some of their industries and even the contribution of single companies to the economy, it makes sense that they want to take a measured approach. In France, businesses are very accepting of new technology and they move very fast; we’ve formed some great customer relationships there.
In Latin America, there are some significant commercial hubs like Sao Paolo in Brazil. Despite facing constraints when it comes to technology infrastructure, there’s a tremendous forward thinking attitude and appetite for innovation – demonstrating the market opportunity in the region.
Global Business Issues
You’d have to have been living under a rock to avoid the many global economic issues hitting the headlines, and I’ve witnessed just how these are impacting organisations across the world.
Brexit has undoubtedly led to an uncertain decision-making environment in the UK, and this has had a wider macro-economic effect. There have been recent stock market fluctuations thanks to the 5G debate between the US and China which has had a significant impact on tariffs. There has also been quite a lot of foreign exchange fluctuation in Turkey, affecting their economy, and in South Africa we have seen a lot of political uncertainty.
The key for us is being sensitive and considerate of these issues, but offering consistency; the same level of service, and one which makes it easier for organisations to run their business and be more profitable. It is that simple.
Data Management… Just Like a Thermostat?
If you’re feeling cold and you turn your thermostat up to 21 degrees, you’re not that concerned about the back end process that makes it happen. You just want your heating to come on. The ‘problem’ is, you’re feeling chilly, the ‘solution’ is the radiators start firing up. The same principle applies to data management and digital transformation; the most experienced and knowledgeable CIOs care about both the problems and solutions. For example, their problem may be that they need to process 300,000 transactions a day, but their current data architecture makes this process slow and unwieldy. They need this processing to happen almost in real time to make urgent improvements to their customer experience and deliver significant efficiency savings. Working with Pure to achieve the modern data experience solves that problem.
Sectors to Watch in the Next Decade
Of course, every business sector experiences problems with data, and we see opportunities across the spectrum. However there are some with an urgent need, or a more obvious demand for faster, simple, cloud based, and innovative data solutions.
We already have some great client relationships in the public sector globally, from the municipality of San Benedetto del Tronto on the Italian Peninsula, working with Pure to simplify and speed up its online interactions with citizens, to the Hospital del Mar in Barcelona, which wanted to modernise its infrastructure to prepare for the implementation of new technologies like AI and Neuro Linguistic Programming. Every day, public sector organisations are trying to improve how they service citizens, and digital—fuelled by faster, agile access to data —is key.
In the gaming sector we have established relationships with Betfair and Paddy Power, and they and their competitors are doing a great job of modernising their offer while maintaining an industry wide commitment to responsible betting. Because the industry is so competitive, they all want to deliver a great customer experience online; which means low latency, real time transactions and ‘always on’. If you’ve had a flutter on the races, you would expect your winnings to appear in your account straight away, but with older legacy infrastructures this doesn’t happen. Working with Pure means it does.
A Modern Data Platform for Good
The applications of AI in healthcare and its potential for the future are well documented; this is just one of the ways that a modern data experience can enable such critical innovation. But there are so many other ways that better, faster, efficient access to data can make a positive societal impact. Working with Pure could enable police forces to assess terrorist threats in real time. It can underpin the most innovative genomics research and analysis with the aim of discovering a cure for cancer. It can allow medical institutions throughout the world to access patient records immediately instead of the often disjointed delayed experience that comes with legacy infrastructure. This can have enormous impact in speeding up diagnoses, delivering the right treatment and enabling effective information sharing across multiple agencies.
There are so many possibilities, and as we look ahead across the new decade, we will be looking for more opportunities to do good while we continue to disrupt, innovate, simplify and modernise. The power of data is still so untapped, and I’m excited to help businesses do and achieve so much more with it in the next 10 years. Out innovation in regards to data disruption is only getting started!
