Firms need to prep for the data 'gold rush'

Organisations need to shift their thinking away from being data-driven businesses to data-centric ones, changing the way the way they unlock and measure value in the process.

So claimed Pure Storage CEO Charlie Giancarlo during the opening keynote of the firm's Accelerate conference in San Francisco today.

"Data is the most important asset you have To be able to process all this, it creates a huge opportunity. We are entering a moment like the big boom that put San Francisco on the map - the real, original gold rush. In the original gold rush, gold was finite but, now, the amount of gold in data is unlimited. We just need the picks and shovels to make that gold real," he said.

"Less than 1% of data in your organisation is typically being utilised for intelligence. This is a great opportunity to pull the gold out of the ore in the ground."

However, despite data increasingly becoming a core asset to businesses, there is a definite disconnect between what business decision makers want or need and IT's ability to deliver, according to Giancarlo.

"There is a big gap in the expectations of the C-suite and the ability of IT to catch up. We hope to help you and be part of that [solution] with you. We believe having a data-centric architecture is one of the new superpowers you can use to make that happen," Giancarlo added.

"There are lots of new tools that are making it easier for non-tech companies to become tech companies. In order to seize the digital high ground, you need to feed these apps with data, as data is where the money is and where you can understand more about your customers, the market, and your competitors.

"Before it was a case of data small, applications big. Tomorrow, [it will be] applications small, data big. That calls for a new architecture. You really want your datacentre to be more data centric. It marries on-demand, virtualised and stateless compute with data-as-a-service. It delivers all the pros without the cons of operating in a cloud environment and it is the next logical step in datacentre evolution."

Pure also used the first day of the conference to unearth a raft of announcements, including new solutions to help customers capitalise on the power of the data they possess. This builds on announcements made yesterday at the partner forum, including unveiling a revamped partner programme and confirmation of a new EMEA channel chief.