International Data Corporation (IDC) predicted in 2011 that the overall data will grow by 50 times coming 2020. Three years later, 2014, EMC Corporation estimated that the population will be creating 44 trillion gigabytes of data annually starting 2020.
The upcoming challenge for data storage industry will be expected with the rise of Internet of Things plus the deflating costs of storage per unit of data, say Gigabyte(GB).
Lowering charges for raw information storage
Macintosh data storage drives approximately costs $700 000 per gigabyte in 1981 down to two up to six cents per GB depending on what drive providers company used as a reference. During the time of old computers, most parts are bulky, consumes wide space, and requires more intensive manpower. It leads to high fixed outlays for equipment maintenance, long payroll list, and non-cash expenses including depreciation driving the cost per GB of data sky-high.With the advancement dynamic technology, developments and radical innovations was introduced to the data storage industry allowing companies to produce hardware ports at a cheaper price and convincingly more convenient to users.
The takeaway: The costs of storing data have significantly decreased since the Macintosh, scenario called ‘deflation’.
The deflation twist: It’s not what you think it is!
Measuring the cost of data in terms $/GB could be misleading to executives since it is only half portion of the bigger picture of computing costs. We need to include other important factors such as maintenance, type of business, and resource capabilities.Unprocessed business information requires ongoing maintenance to constantly upgrade a system to adapt with the new types of data or to update capacity entailing additional costs.The type of business is also considered cost constraint. Bigger companies infrequently encounter problems with IT infrastructure to deal with their growing needs. However, if a business is considered to be a Small, Medium Enterprise (SME) then, the procuring such technical assets can be a problem.Resource capabilities include ability to pool capital with ease; meet target productions and sales, and productive manpower. Effective and efficient front liner developers are a scarcity and of course, this rare talent requires fat upfront fees usually not affordable for SMEs.
Unexploited Data
Studies show that only half of a percent of trillion global data is being processed for trade uses leaving at least 90 percent untapped and locked up while a company loses many opportunities to turn these into profits creating shareholders value.It can be easy to collect information but processing and storing them requires insurmountable work (the reason why only half of one percent being used). Even numbers show that the costs of using storage per unit of data have considerably dwindled; the real economic expenditure far exceeds the benefits for small businesses.Now, the big problem is the affordability of tapping the previously unused 90 percent data for small ventures. SMEs provide the majority of the job opportunities worldwide and makes up great percentage of a country’s national income. We need to provide more inclusive, not exclusive, business solutions.
Available options for SMEs
There are three options; purchase, in-house development, or take advantage of the blockchain network. Options 1 and 2 will not be feasible for most of them since purchase prices can be high and it needs ongoing maintenance fees and the business, most probably do not have the capability in building such tool. Then we move on to the last option, how blockchain intends to solve this problem?
Five ways blockchain is better than the other two options presented by blockchain powered companies:
- First, decentralization, it grants business owners the ability to manage the system with ease such as changings some variables in the data analysis to generate better reports.
- Second, immutability of data, since it uses the blockchain technology, it is tamper proof where parties are discouraged to alter any information fed in to the network due to its public availability through a ledger.
- Third, pay-per-use, meaning businesses can only pay for the services provided by the platform and need not procure any costly equipment.
- Fourth, capability to upgrade, it is flexible and able to adapt with the changes in with the ever changing demands of business consumers.
- Finally, open source customization, third parties are allowed into the network to work with improvements to the currently existing system without starting from zero stage.