What Every EMC Partner Should Know About the 2016 Global Data Protection Index

Last month EMC published the results of its second Global Data Protection Index (GDPI), a survey conducted by an independent research firm of 2,200 IT decision makers in 18 countries about their data protection infrastructures, security breaches, and purchasing habits.

The findings of the GDPI are illuminating, perhaps even shocking

GDPI

Most significantly, businesses experienced more data loss or disruption than when we conducted the survey two years ago.

This can be primarily attributed to two things:

  1. Public cloud storage is being used increasingly for a variety of business applications – over ¼ of company data is in the public cloud – creating more risk and exposure. And fewer than half of the companies surveyed believed their data in the cloud was protected.
  2. New threats, like cyber-attacks, have emerged and become prevalent. Over 1/3 of respondents reported internal or external security breaches.

Additionally, the GDPI found that approaching data protection through multiple vendors increases cost and risk—and more than half of companies surveyed relied on more than two vendors.

The GDPI presents an opportunity for you to be your customers’ data protection champion

These findings point to the need for a comprehensive, single vendor data protection strategy. And they uncover a significant opportunity for you to help customers dramatically improve their current data protection preparedness.

Did you know? Less than one-fifth of companies surveyed believe the solutions they have in place today are sufficient!

Modernizing data protection means considering a continuum of technologies to meet all business needs as well evolving data protection for new demands and new threats. With technologies spanning the entire data protection spectrum from continuous availability to archiving, EMC can help you deliver solutions to protect data no matter where it lives.

Take steps to help customers evaluate and modernize their data protection

  1. Familiarize yourself with the 2016 GDPI results. Download the full report and share with your customers. Use the survey findings to begin probing with some key questions: Have you been hit by ransomware yet? How are you currently handling long-term retention and legal holds, do you use tape today? Do you have any automation/orchestration plans for your business?
  2. Make sure you understand and can convey EMC’s data protection vision. An excellent place to start is by watching the Data Protection for the Modern Data Center partner webcast.
  3. Get ready to drive demand. A refreshed Data Protection campaign will be available in the Partner Campaign Playbook It will highlight the benefits of Data Domain with Data Protection Suite, and will use the 2016 GDPI as a key call to action. Keep an eye out for further communication.

Being able to provide data protection everywhere is fundamental to helping companies accelerate their transition to the modern data center, and ultimately to affirmatively answer the question “Is your data protected?”

About the Author: Kristine Cornwall