The lesson of 2012 - prepare now for increased data volumes

Overview

2012 will see a host of major national events that millions of people will want to participate in, and which therefore present new opportunities to the nimble enterprise. Peaks in traffic, rich media, social platforms, flexible and remote working, and the increased use of personal devices for work will all play a major role.

Together, these will put a significant strain on network performance and resilience - not to mention on organisations' data security policies.

However, an exclusive Computing survey of 140 senior IT strategists reveals that many have failed to even consider the scenarios that may arise, or to test the ability of their networks to cope. Others expect employees to deal with work matters in their own time while not offering any flexibility in return, and a worrying number of organisations have not factored any of these issues into their data security policies.

The survey presents a troubling picture of disengaged organisations, with some senior IT managers failing to think strategically, seeing major events as an
inconvenience rather than an opportunity and concomitant surges in traffic as a temporary hurdle instead of a sign of a thriving, forward-looking enterprise that is fit for the future.