Data Is the New Advantage – If You Can Hold On To It

Turning Existing Infrastructure into a Future-Ready Strategy

Over the past five years, artificial intelligence (AI) and the promise of new data insight pipelines have been the most exciting drivers of digital transformation, reshaping the way organizations operate and innovate as they think about how to use the new technology. However, as AI accelerates and amplifies business capabilities, it also drives unprecedented data usage needs. Current estimates suggest around 403 terabytes of data are generated globally every single day, with the annual projection soaring to 181 zettabytes in 2025. This volume alone is staggering, but it’s not the only shift reshaping how enterprises think about storage.

The lifespan of data is evolving, too. In the past, businesses stored information for as long as regulations or internal policies required, then commonly discarded it to save money and free up infrastructure. Now, in an AI-powered world, the game has changed. Proprietary data has emerged as one of the most valuable assets for enterprises—and increasingly, the expectation is that data must be stored indefinitely, ready to fuel future models, insights, and innovations as the technology continues to evolve. There are, of course, concerns about this level of storage, ranging from cost to cyber threats, and it seems the rules are shifting alongside the evolution of AI.

AI’s New Rules for Data

AI’s insatiable appetite for data explains this shift in the general mindset of data preservation. Large language models (LLMs) and machine learning (ML) systems don’t just rely on a steady influx of new data—they thrive when organizations have deep historical datasets to train on, and to continue to refer back to with each new incarnation or model. That means the value of data extends beyond today’s use cases. What may not be useful now could prove indispensable for model training, methods, benchmarking, or compliance tomorrow.

This reality represents a brave new world of storage. Before the AI boom, the guiding principle was efficiency: keep what you must, discard what you can, and keep costs low. Now, that strategy risks leaving organizations unprepared for the next wave of innovation, introducing a tricky balancing act that’s new to the world of enterprise data.

Enterprises becoming thoroughly digitized have resulted in a lot of strides being made more quickly than ever before, but this level of digitization also introduces hazards. In addition to skyrocketing volumes and extended storage timelines, cybercriminals have also adapted, enabling even novice coders to utilize AI-powered tools to launch waves of increasingly sophisticated attacks. Organizations find themselves facing a formidable equation: More data than ever before, stored longer than ever before, and exposed to more cyberattacks than ever before.

Meeting this challenge requires more than simply spending money on new solutions. It calls for rethinking storage strategies to balance cost, security, and accessibility while keeping every scrap of data for the long term.

Turning Existing Infrastructure into a Future-Ready Strategy

For many organizations, the instinct might be to chase the “next big thing” in storage, which, while flashy, is impractical and costly. The reality is that most enterprises already have the building blocks for a strong, future-ready system, and are trying to apply a single storage technology across an entire data lifecycle, leaving critical hardware or cost advantages behind. The key lies in tailoring those resources into a hybrid storage strategy which can address today’s demands for the ideal mix of performance, scale, economics, and, especially, intrinsic technology advantage, while remaining adaptable for tomorrow’s needs.

Consider tape storage, for instance. Most organizations are either familiar with tape, or already have it implemented. As technologies evolve, tape does as well – tape remains one of the most reliable and cost-effective ways to store large amounts of data for long periods of time. In fact, when combined with other storage options such as object storage, tape can play a critical role in creating a holistic solution.

Take exponential data growth, for example. Theoretically, enterprises could choose to store their mountains of new information, as well as all their archives and backups of critical systems and data stores, entirely in the cloud. However, doing so would come with astronomical costs, especially when factoring in networking speed limitations or even egress fees paid to retrieve colder cloud storage tiers in a hurry. So, while the “someone else’s infrastructure” appeal of cloud storage is often tapped for short-lived data needs, it’s usually far too expensive to serve as the warehouse for everything.

That’s where tape can really shine. Data that must be preserved but isn’t immediately needed in the hot performance tier can be shifted to tape systems, reducing cloud costs and freeing up network space without sacrificing the ability to retrieve it whenever needed. Tape effectively becomes the long-term memory of the enterprise, while cloud object storage functions as the short-term working brain.

Tape’s cybersecurity capability adds another layer of advantage. Storing all data on a cloud platform or on-premises server connected to the network exposes it to the ever-present threat of ransomware, data breaches, or insider misuse. The more data you have, the more enticing a target you become to the ever-present cyber threat actors. Data sets, archives, and backups stored on tape, however, can provide air-gapped and even fully offline advantage options that place critical data literally “out of reach” of online attacks, offering a crucial layer of protection in an era where digital adversaries are more numerous than ever.

Of course, no solution is perfect on its own – that’s why a hybrid approach blending the best technology at each workflow step is the key to building the ideal workflow. By blending cloud, on-premises, and tape storage into a cohesive strategy, enterprises can strike a balance between cost, security, and accessibility. The hybrid model ensures organizations can move quickly when needed, keep data secure, and scale sustainably as data volumes continue to grow.

Preserving Data Today Secures Tomorrow’s Advantage

Globally, data architects, managers, and protectors are in uncharted territory. The arrival of generative AI has proven just how unpredictable and fast-moving technological leaps can be – and if there’s one thing the past few years have taught us, it’s that we can’t know what comes next.

The only way to prepare is to ensure proprietary data is not just stored but preserved indefinitely. Tomorrow’s breakthroughs – whether in AI, analytics, or some other yet-unimagined technology – will depend on the depth and quality of the data you have today, and how well you can utilize the storage technologies of your choice to serve your data usage and workflow needs. Organizations that hold onto their data have already gained an edge in training proprietary models. The best of these organizations are actively using every technology choice at their disposal to ensure their data is not only protected, but in a cost-effective manner. Those that didn’t are playing catch-up, often at great cost.

The lesson is clear: don’t get left behind, because your competitors are learning these lessons as well. The enterprises that thrive in this next era of digital innovation will be those that recognize the enduring value of their data. That means keeping it all and planning to keep it forever. By embracing hybrid storage strategies that combine the strengths of tape, cloud, and on-premises systems, organizations can rise to the challenge of exponential growth, protect themselves from evolving threats, and ensure they are ready for whatever comes next.

In the age of AI, your competitive advantage won’t just come from your technology stack. It will come from the data you’ve preserved, ready to pull into new, agile data insight workflows as your team grows. When the next big shift arrives, the organizations with the foresight to keep everything will be the ones leading the way.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Skip Levens

Skip Levens is a product leader and AI strategist at Quantum, a leader in solutions for AI and unstructured data. He is currently responsible for driving engagement, awareness and growth for Quantum's end-to-end solutions. Throughout his career – which has included stops at organizations like Apple, Backblaze, Symply and Active Storage – he has successfully led marketing and business development, evangelism, launched new products, built relationships with key stakeholders and driven revenue growth.