Promotions don’t happen overnight. They can take months or longer, even if you’re a high performer who consistently surpasses management expectations. Most career experts will tell you that moving up the corporate ladder today requires presenting a persuasive case for how you’re directly helping your company achieve its goals.
Converging Data and Energy Challenges
For those responsible for data center operations, getting ahead now means deploying the right strategies and technologies to mitigate the effects of exploding data growth and rising data center costs. Investments in big data and AI projects are generating dizzying amounts of data just as we’re facing energy insecurity on a global scale. And if that wasn’t enough, there’s surging consumer awareness of environmental issues and increased focus on the value of sustainability. This all adds up to a complex challenge—as well as an opportunity for you to make a measurable impact and impress the C-suite.
Is Keeping Your Legacy Storage Penny Wise or Pound Foolish?
When you’re vying for a promotion, it’s logical to focus on cost-saving opportunities. But making a decision to squeeze a few more years from a legacy data storage system no longer makes dollars or sense. Not only is outdated spinning disk inflexible and not up to the challenge of today’s data demands, it’s shockingly inefficient in terms of physical space, energy, and cooling.
Data centers currently account for about 2% of global energy consumption with data storage using about a quarter of all energy consumed in data centers. These percentages are expected to rise sharply over the next few years with unstructured data volumes rising exponentially. In fact, a Gartner report titled “Emerging Technologies – Enterprise Storage Will Consume More of the Available Data Center Power Budget and Undermine Sustainability” estimated that there could be a 23-fold increase in enterprise storage capacity through 2030.
Sustainability Is Now a C-suite Priority
Sustainability plans are nothing new, but with an expanding climate crisis and dramatic growth in clean tech, they’ve taken center stage. Virtually all of the largest companies now issue sustainability reports with 97% of executives expecting climate change to impact their strategy and operations in the next three years, according to Bloomberg. Many have set science-based carbon targets with some even pledging to reach net zero by 2030.
Business leaders are no longer doubting the need for greater sustainability with 85% of organizations having eliminated a potential technology supplier at least once due to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) concerns. And greener data storage is a key component of a comprehensive ESG strategy that tracks progress toward higher-level sustainability goals.
The Numbers Tell the Story
The timing is right to rethink inefficient data center technologies to minimize current and future strain on budgets and resources. Or put another way, replacing your storage solution sooner rather than later may be the best way to help your company achieve overarching business goals—and it may also be your ticket to a promotion. But getting decision-makers on board to invest in greener data storage will take presenting a compelling case.
The good news is the numbers speak for themselves. All-flash storage is dramatically more efficient than heat-generating, spinning disks that use tremendous amounts of electricity, water, space, and money to run and cool.
And in the case of Pure Storage, our all-flash systems deliver a lower total cost of ownership, even compared to competitor all-flash solutions:
- Up to 85% energy savings
- 75+% real estate savings
- 50+% more efficient labor and material use
These savings are created through better data reduction, denser flash drives, and proprietary software that drives system-level efficiencies. DirectFlash®, our proprietary technology, makes it possible to run fewer units per rack, delivering systems that are up to 10 times as dense as the competition. This directly translates into:
- Lower energy costs and carbon footprint
- Lower facility costs
- Lower personnel costs
- Longer useful life with much less e-waste
Uncover your energy savings with Pure Storage.
Energy Savings You Can Prove
Before you lobby for an investment in greener data storage, you’ll want to make sure you can prove the value that it can bring to the business. With the new Sustainability Assessment in Pure1®, the cloud-based as-a-service data management platform from Pure Storage, you’ll have full transparency in how your all-flash appliances are operating. With a single click, you can view, manage, and optimize energy usage. This lets you present to the C-suite drilled-down data that highlights the reduced energy consumption, as well as high-level metrics that can be mapped to specific business goals.
Climate change is also spawning many governments to require companies to measure and report their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Currently, there are 84 countries with mandatory reporting, with more following suit. With a tool like the Sustainability Assessment in Pure1, you can easily and accurately measure and report emissions to meet any current or future reporting requirements.
Learn more about achieving energy savings with Pure1.
Fast-track Your Promotion
Simply put, sustainability has become a key pillar of successful IT and business strategies that prioritize reducing power and space to drive operational efficiencies and achieve long-term ESG goals. With the right storage technology in place, you can make that happen and position yourself as not only a high performer but also a visionary leader who can make a lasting, valuable impact across the organization.
For more on how greener data storage can help you advance your career, check out the infographic “Get Promoted for Running Greener Data Storage.”
