Powering clients to a future shaped by growth
A Frost & Sullivan White Paper
A Manufacturing CIO’s
Guide to Modern Data
Protection
Protect rapidly growing IoT
landscape, focus on optimizing
operations, and improve competitive
positioning through advanced data
backup and recovery
By: Roberta Gamble, Partner and Vice President,
Frost & Sullivan
Sponsored By: Veeam
Contents
3 Manufacturers Need to Prioritize Data Back Up and
Recovery to Remain Competitive
4 Data Protection Drives Resiliency
6 From Automation to Autonomy: Managed Disaster
Recovery (DR) takes Data Protection and Resiliency to
the Next Level
7 Beyond Management: Wielding Data’s Potential
8 Next Steps for Optimized Data Backup, Recovery,
Management, and Dexterity
9 About Veeam
10 Endnotes
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A Manufacturing CIO’s Guide to Modern Data Protection 3
Manufacturers Need to Prioritize Data Back Up and
Recovery to Remain Competitive
The digital transformation strategies that are helping modernize all industries can, in part, be
attributed to manufacturing’s fourth industrial revolution, or Industry 4.0. Industry 4.0 improves
upon the efficiency and automation protocols of earlier transformations with technologies such
as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and Internet of things (IoT). Through these advances,
manufacturers can build and ship better products, more quickly, and for lower costs.
Data is at the heart of this transformation, and is streaming into manufacturing organizations at an
astounding—and expanding—rate. Factory automation and manufacturing related IoT devices are
expected to more than triple in the next few years, growing from 3 billion in 2020 to over 9 billion
by 2025. Securing these endpoints and the information they generate, as well as the systems that
rely upon them, has been a compelling challenge for the manufacturing industry. Industrial IoT is
a growing target for threat actors, who have discovered that industrial equipment is often poorly
protected and can be gateways to other critical operating systems.
Manufacturing organizations are working diligently to address these issues and protect their
data, systems, and applications. Frost & Sullivan research shows that 62% of manufacturing IT
leaders consider security their top concern.1 However, data backup and recovery, despite being
foundational to business security and continuity, often lacks the attention given to other facets of
digitization. Many organizations expect backup and recovery will be adequately covered within
any data storage scenario, whether on-prem or in the cloud. However, this “set it and forget it”
assumption can backfire, leaving organizations vulnerable to failures, cybersecurity breaches and
rising data storage and maintenance cost.
Hybrid Cloud Usage Expands Rapidly
Hybrid cloud multi-cloud
usage rose adoption rose
14% 54%
2020 2025
over
50%
of new workloads will be
cloud-hosted as
opposed to on-premise.
Source: Results from the 2020 Frost & Sullivan Global Cloud User Survey, December 2020
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A Manufacturing CIO’s Guide to Modern Data Protection 4
Indeed, the benefits of evaluating—and upgrading—
data backup, recovery and management strategies
go beyond shoring up security. New solutions in
the space now include modern data protection Frost & Sullivan
across the data center and the cloud, enable better
protection against cyber threats, and help you research shows
manage privacy risk and compliance better than the
static and antiquated systems of the past. Modern that the average
data backup and recovery can prepare the industry
for the growing onslaught of data, as well as help organization juggles
three
create the tools that lead to optimizing operations,
bridging ecosystem challenges, and creating more
compelling customer experiences.
different cloud
Data Protection Drives providers
Resiliency
Risk mitigation is a key tenet for business continuity
and resilience. While organizations typically retained
their overarching modernization goals in 2020,
strategies to meet those goals tended to focus more
on resilience than growth: Frost & Sullivan research 2
shows that the top two priorities for businesses
in 2020 were improving efficiency and enabling a
better customer experience.
The changes brought forth by events in 2020 also
resulted in a significant uptick in the volume and
diversity of data being generated and streaming into
organizations. The move to remote work meant new
systems had to be in place that could accommodate
thousands—even hundreds of thousands—of
employees now logging in from new equipment or
personal devices. In-person interactions, whether
with customers or value chain partners, had to be
virtualized, which required new tools, apps, and
features and resulted in even more data. To capture,
process, and utilize waves of new and different
information, organizations turned to the cloud.
The cloud is seen as a leading strategy to ensure
data hygiene and resiliency, but it also creates
problems by obscuring organization visibility. On
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A Manufacturing CIO’s Guide to Modern Data Protection 5
the one hand, 79% of IT professionals interviewed by Frost & Sullivan planned to improve their
disaster recovery (DR) capabilities by moving to the cloud 3 . On the other hand, cloud usage can be
ad-hoc rather than closely tied to an organization’s strategic growth objectives, making it difficult
for IT teams to identify and mitigate gaps in backup and recovery. As cloud usage expands, many
organizations find themselves juggling multiple cloud providers: an average of three, per Frost &
Sullivan research.
Cybersecurity attacks also rose precipitously in 2020. For example, detected and blocked
attempts at ransomware rose 715% in the 12 months ending in June 2020 as compared to the
12 months prior4 . The combination of growing security risks, rapid cloud adoption, and the lack
of prioritizing data backup and recovery creates a tenuous situation that may result in unforeseen
gaps, security vulnerabilities, and lost productivity.
Protecting and backing up data is among the most elemental responsibilities of IT, with the “3-2-1
rule” (three copies of the data in two different formats, plus one copy off-site) a common guideline
that illustrates the need for spreading risk. However, even this redundancy is rapidly becoming
insufficient. Leading IT departments are adding a “0”—creating a the 3-2-1-0 rule—to account for
“zero errors.” Frost & Sullivan research backs this, showing a strong trend towards “innovating to
zero” meaning zero downtime, zero faults and failures, and implementing a zero-trust strategy.
As a result, engaging backup and disaster recovery suppliers is increasing as well, with 46% of
companies anticipated to use a BaaS provider by 2023, up from 29% in 2020 5 . Despite this trend,
current processes can be antiquated, and older systems are rife with risk: their reliance on manual
tasks make them prone to human error, leading to efficacy gaps that leave data vulnerable.
Data storage costs are spiraling upwards as well, whether on-premises (on-prem) or related to
unplanned cloud capacity growth. While the amount of data generated in 2020 was exceptional,
the expansion of data generation has been ongoing for years and is not likely to abate. Systems
may not have been built to withstand rapid increases in data or to handle information on the
cloud, in multi- or hybrid cloud scenarios, and across different platforms and even formats.
The improvements that new and advanced
solutions have over archaic ones are stark: for
one, the cost and coverage picture is much Data management
better. Modern solutions that employ artificial
platforms can also
intelligence (AI)-driven automation need less
manpower to run, and responsive cloud storage increase IT efficiency by
keeps data costs in check—by some estimates,
30% and respond 73%
these solutions can be as much as 50% less 6
costly in terms of total cost of ownership than faster to problems.
their older counterparts. Data management
– Veeam
platforms can also increase IT efficiency by 30%
and respond 73% faster to problems7.
In terms of performance, advanced archival solutions furnish much higher levels of data
protection, reporting near-perfect RPO and RTO. Scalable cloud storage means comprehensive
coverage across all infrastructures, platforms, and formats that are accessed and managed
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A Manufacturing CIO’s Guide to Modern Data Protection 6
through a unified vantage point. It also means faster duplication and redundancy. The cloud’s
computing power is what allows AI-based automation to not only be more effective and efficient,
but to learn and improve over time. Cross-platform capabilities go beyond providing improved
organizational visibility to also include data mobility across platforms, further improving storage,
access, and utilization.
Within the realm of data protection, advanced solutions provide better security, value, and the
ability to grow and evolve with an organization. In more sophisticated scenarios, modern backup
solutions can even help organizations reach into and leverage stored data to augment the growing
tools that require vast amounts of information. Organizations are realizing that they need ways to
utilize all data more intelligently.
From Automation to Autonomy: Managed Disaster
Recovery (DR) takes Data Protection and Resiliency
to the Next Level
Protection is non-negotiable, yet modern providers can do more than protect data: they can
manage data intelligence and build data trust. Effective data management draws on automation
to streamline critical functions such as backup scheduling, replication management, and file
restoration orchestration. As noted earlier, a major benefit of automation is reduced human
intervention. This lessens the risk of mistakes that can lead to anything from a missed update
to a compliance infraction. It also removes a potential threat vector: an estimated 30% of data
breaches have internal collaborators, whether intentional or not. Advanced systems are also
more efficient. They are built to automatically find the quickest, most direct backup and recovery
methods, reduce recovery times, increase data availability, and to simplify process management.
Over time, AI-based solutions can determine the best place to store and retrieve data based on
usage patterns.
While all data needs to be secure, some needs to be more secure: market performance trends
used by an investment firm, for example, may not have the same security demands as a client’s
account information. Data is also accessed at different times and frequencies. Intelligent
automation helps ensure that the right protection and access are optimally executed from the
start. It can also learn how security needs evolve over time, based on changes in, for example,
usage, policies, or regulations. Imagine the benefits that such a system would have brought to
an organization implementing GDPR compliance or ensuring secure, effective data integration as
part of an acquisition.
Intelligent automation can track, identify, record, and analyze issues to suggest event resolution
strategies. When combined with real-time monitoring, it can accelerate response time and
reduces outages and related downtime. Timely notification helps address any issues that the data
management system itself cannot execute automatically. Over time, however, the system moves
from automation to autonomy, detecting changes in the environment to recognize issues early
on, even to the point of predicting a potential failure before it occurs. Advanced tools learn the
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A Manufacturing CIO’s Guide to Modern Data Protection 7
likelihood of actions leading to certain events and how schedules, policies, and workloads should
be managed to ensure complete recoverability. Advanced solutions add significant value through
management, above and beyond critical backup and recovery services. Building intelligence
through advanced orchestration and management creates greater trust in data, providing an
avenue for strategies that more valuable than basic DR.
Beyond Management: Wielding Data’s Potential
Perhaps the most exciting aspect of modern data backup, recovery, and management is
unleashing the potential of underutilized data. Industry-leading data protection providers go
beyond data backup and disaster recovery to include expanded and responsive storage, AI-
driven management, and advanced analytics on a single platform. This is elevating backup and
DR from playing a role in business continuity assurance to being fundamental to an organization’s
comprehensive data strategy.
Businesses should think beyond their data Businesses should
stores as simply a place to run to if and
when disaster strikes. Rather than a cellar think beyond their data
that contains copies of missing or corrupt
stores as simply a place
information, comprehensive backup stores can
be the ingredients of an entirely separate “test to run to if and when
kitchen” for DevOps and DevTest teams.
disaster strikes.
Backup data can automate the environment
requirement for update and patch testing and troubleshooting. It can deliver a protected
production space where new apps can be run in a sandbox-type scenario. It can also be a near-
real time resource for advanced analytics, reducing the need for multiple-data replication across
the company.
This is critical for external products as customer experience and ratings are often at the top of the
list of organizational priorities. A Frost & Sullivan survey published in February, 2020 8 showed that
customer satisfaction rates are the top metric organizations use to measure digital transformation
success (44% of respondents), even more so than revenue increases (38%) or cost savings from
automation (37%). Misfires on customer-facing upgrades or new apps can have lasting and
detrimental effects on an organization.
All rights reserved © 2021 Frost & Sullivan • www.frost.com
A Manufacturing CIO’s Guide to Modern Data Protection 8
Next Steps for Optimized Data Backup, Recovery,
Management, and Dexterity
Finding new ways to unleash the value of information and insights is (or should be) on the mind of
any IT team. Backup and recovery can be viewed as a stepping stone to a more comprehensive,
secure, and actionable use of data, rather than a box-checking exercise that fails to recognize the
data’s potential value to an organization. Automated systems can free up precious IT resources,
reduce compliance and audit reporting time, feed into trend and root-cause analysis, and build
an autonomous and constantly improving back up system. Advanced systems can be integrated
with active data and insights to create a better customer experience or new revenue stream and
provide safe and accurate testing grounds that enable flawless app rollouts and upgrades.
While every business is on its own unique digital transformation path, there are a few staging
points in which an organization can evaluate, regroup, plan, and execute a more secure and
valuable data optimization strategy. Understanding how modern data protection helps protect,
manage, and utilize data helps move an organization through these steps. Key questions an
organization should ask itself are:
• What is the current data protection strategy, if there is one? Is data backup
currently relegated to storage and recovery based on task, department, or infrastructure?
Or, is there a cohesive program that encompasses all of these aspects without infringing
on productivity?
• What are the costs and time involved to execute current data strategies? Are
expensive IT resources being dedicated to rote or administrative tasks? Would there be
value in reducing data recovery and access time exponentially?
• What role does automation play with the internal or vendor-provided DR
strategy? And, are there tasks that could be improved upon by turning to AI-based
solutions? For example, have any backup windows been missed, could compliance
reporting or DR testing take less time, and might there be gaps across cloud and on-prem
infrastructures?
• Does the current data leveraging strategy include integrating insights across
the organization? Or, is backed up information gathering dust, only secured and stored
for regulatory and security compliance?
Manufacturing organizations are increasingly familiar with the benefits that automation can bring
to business processes and often turn to the cloud to realize these results. They also are keenly
aware of the regulations and responsibilities placed upon them to keep critical IoT data and
organizational information secure no matter where backups reside. Relying on outdated legacy
solutions can expose organizations to undue risk, as they rarely have the capabilities needed to
recovery from cyber threats or the flexibility to scale with changing data protection needs.
Eliminating data protection gaps, engaging automation, and moving to an autonomous backup
and recovery system improves productivity and creates robust business continuity. A vendor that
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A Manufacturing CIO’s Guide to Modern Data Protection 9
can support numerous infrastructure types—with an agnostic platform that integrates advanced
security and compliance features—helps manufacturing organizations focus on their core
business, optimize operations, reduce risks, and be prepared for new and unforeseen challenges.
About Veeam
With more than a decade of innovation, Veeam® continues to distinguish itself as the industry
leader for backup and data protection. While we started our company focused on protecting
virtualized workloads, our breadth of capabilities now spans physical infrastructure to public
clouds like AWS, Azure and GCP, Kubernetes, and SaaS workloads.
Our complete data management platform extends beyond core backup and recovery with
monitoring, disaster recovery, data mobility across cloud and data centers, security focusing on
ransomware protection, and data reuse capabilities. These key components take backup to the
next level. Veeam’s platform growth has resulted in a leadership position in every top tier analyst
ranking, peer review platform, and growth that far outpaces any leading vendor in the market.
Learn more here.
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A Manufacturing CIO’s Guide to Modern Data Protection 10
Endnotes
1 Source: Frost & Sullivan’s Cloud Drives Digital Transformation in Manufacturing, March 2021
2 Source: Frost & Sullivan’s 2020 global cloud user survey
3 Source: Frost & Sullivan’s Data Protection & Management in Light of COVID-19
4 Sources: Bitdefender, as reported by the University of South Florida
5 Source: Veeam
6 Source: Veeam
7 Source: Veeam
8 Source: Frost & Sullivan’s 2021 Predictions—COVID-19 Accelerates CX Investments.
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