IT should avoid arguing why data should not be outsourced; the perception of protecting an empire will ensure that arguments, however valid, will be ignored. A better strategy is to suggest proactively where data should be held external to an organization, and to agree the business case, legal and qualification issues with the business. I suggest six main decision criteria:
- The larger the number of users and the greater the dispersion, the greater the potential of outside vendors to leverage capabilities to connect to data (e.g., Web marketing data).
- The higher the read to write ratio, the better suited the application to external storage services. High write rates and write ratios found in many transactional “business state” systems should usually be kept internal.
- Data not tightly integrated with many applications, and as a result having low write and read locking rates, will be more suitable for external services (e.g., email archiving)
- File or record orientated data will often be easier to externalize, because the data is easier to split from the application.
- Data that uses a storage service provider that can gain economies of scale by providing storage services for many clients, often in one industry. Cheaper costs just because the operators are based in India won’t cut it long term, and will result in higher switching costs down the road.
- Data that meets corporate and IT standards for the placement, protection and services access levels to information.
Action Item: Technology considerations make applications that meet the above criteria like backup, “C” sites data services, personal files, email, email archiving, archiving, web sites, web advertising and marketing data and medical records likely starting candidates for storage services.
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