The IT Nerd

Amid massive data hacks like Norsk Hydro ASA which just happened this week, rising consumer distrust in how companies protect the personal data of its’ customers and stricter regulations on data privacy like GDPR, the way a business manages and protects data is one of the most important decisions it can make today.

Today Dell EMC unveils a new global study revealing that while most businesses now recognize the value of data, they continue to struggle with implementing adequate data protection measures. And while Canadian businesses scored above average with 97% recognizing the value of data, on average they are actually less confident in their data protection infrastructure and ability to meet future challenges. The study also reveals a wide gap between Canadian businesses’ understanding of the importance of data protection, and the maturity of their own strategies.

Key findings from the Global Data Protection Index offer insight into how Canadian businesses are faring in today’s evolving data protection landscape, notably:

• Canadian businesses managed 11.45PB of data in 2018, higher than the global average of 9.70PB and representing an explosive growth of 941% compared to the 1.10PB managed in 2016.
• 72% of Canadian businesses experienced a disruption in the last 12 months, and 16% percent experienced irreparable data loss. Comparatively, 76% of businesses globally experienced disruption in the last 12 months with 27% experiencing irreparable data loss.
• Nearly half (44%) of those surveyed are struggling to find suitable data protection solutions for newer technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning, while globally the average is 45%.

The study is located here and is very much worth reading.

As part of Dell’s efforts to buy EMC, which closed on September 7th by the way, as many as 3000 people may no longer work for Dell when it is all said and done according to a  Bloomberg report. The report claims that Dell will seek out $1.7bn in cost savings in the next eighteen months. However, it also claims that it will seek to beef up sales by several times that amount, minimizing the need to thin the herd. If they have to thin the herd, it will likely come from the US and in roles including supply chain, marketing and general and administrative functions.

It will be interesting to see what this new Dell/EMC combo does to make this deal work over next year or two. My guess is that they will be doing anything possible to prove that this merger was a good idea. Even if that means that this merger isn’t as good for others. Employees for example.

A blockbuster deal has been announced in the tech world. Dell is going to buy EMC for a staggering $67 billion. Why would Dell do this? The Globe And Mail has an explanation:

The acquisition will help privately held Dell diversify away from a stagnant personal-computer market and give it greater scale in the faster-growing and more lucrative market for managing and storing data for enterprises.

“Dell wants to become the old IBM Corp, a one-stop shop for corporate clients. That model fell apart a couple of decades ago. Reviving it would be a stunning coup for Dell,” said Erik Gordon, clinical assistant professor at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business.

Dell will get EMC’s enterprise storage as part of the deal which many companies who haven’t migrated to the “cloud” use. Plus it gets an interest in VMWare which is a company owned by EMC that makes virtualization software. You’ll excuse me if I seem skeptical if Dell can pull this off without finding some way to screw this up. After all Dell spent a pile of cash to go private and that was far from a painless process. But I guess time will tell if this is a win for Dell or wasted money.