Results of a recent regional report from analyst firm IDC, 'The Changing Face of Storage: A Rethink of Strategy that Goes Beyond the Data' show that enterprises need to embrace advanced cloud technologies and solutions to manage data growth, said Hitachi Data Systems senior vice president and GM of Asia Pacific Kevin Eggleston, speaking in Kuala Lumpur on 20 October 2011.

"The challenge of ensuring data relevancy and managing data growth, which ranked among the top five common issues faced in the August study, clearly indicates that the anticipated trend towards Big Data is something few are ready to take on," said Eggleston, adding that more than 50 percent of the respondents said unstructured data posed the biggest challenge.

"In addition, 72 percent of respondents do not have a strategy to cope with the anticipated growth of unstructured data," he said. "While 64 percent of respondents stated that the demand for deeper analysis outpaces their system's ability to ensure the data is relevant, timely and useful."

Eggleston noted that data storage and utilisation constituted the main challenge in the region. "This is followed by disaster recover and security of information as top priorities for enterprises. When discussing cloud computing, security remains a key challenge. This is reflected by the concerns of IT leaders in Malaysia, which is a mature market in terms of data management."

"Half of respondents do not have plans in Malaysia to use public or hybrid clouds because of security concerns, which reflects a global trend," he said. "Disaster recovery as well as privacy concerns are also behind this reluctance."