Shardul Vikram, CTO and Head of Data & AI for SAP Industries, shares insights on cloud adoption in regulated sectors like life sciences and finance. He discusses the necessity of hybrid models that combine cloud and local storage to meet compliance requirements while maximizing scalability. Shardul explores the role of object storage for unstructured data management and highlights challenges in managing AI infrastructure in compliance-heavy industries. He also emphasizes the ongoing relevance of hybrid strategies for future technological advancements.
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Quick takeaways
A hybrid data storage model is essential for compliance-heavy industries, balancing sensitive data control with cloud scalability.
Organizations must adapt their storage solutions to manage the increasing volume of unstructured data for effective analytics and competitiveness.
Deep dives
Cloud Adoption and the Hybrid Model
Cloud technology has significantly progressed over the last decade, achieving many of its original promises such as increased scalability and efficiency. However, many industries, particularly in regulated fields like life sciences and finance, face challenges balancing their data storage between cloud and on-premises solutions due to compliance and regulatory requirements. A hybrid model has emerged, allowing companies to store sensitive and compliant data locally, while leveraging the cloud for less critical workloads. This approach ensures that organizations can maximize the benefits of cloud technology while maintaining necessary control over their most sensitive data.
Regulatory Compliance and Infrastructure Planning
In industries like life sciences, compliance with various local and global regulations is critical and influences how data is managed and stored. Organizations must carefully consider where customer data will reside and ensure its security to gain trust from customers and stakeholders. This necessitates a structured approach to data organization and an evaluation of the infrastructure needed to support planned operations. A synchronized execution of these plans is essential for organizations to meet their compliance obligations while leveraging technological advancements.
Storage Options and Their Implications
When approaching data storage, organizations must recognize the distinctions between structured and unstructured data, as most data generated today is unstructured. Utilizing relational databases for structured data can lead to inefficiencies, especially when managing vast amounts of unstructured data, which requires different storage solutions like object stores. These object stores provide the scalability and cost-effectiveness needed to handle large volumes of unstructured data, facilitating advanced data analytics and machine learning efforts. As such, implementing robust storage solutions is key for organizations, including smaller players, to remain competitive and capable of scaling their operations efficiently.
Today’s guest is Shardul Vikram, CTO and Head of Data & AI for SAP Industries and Customer Experience. Shardul joins Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello on today’s program to explore the evolving landscape of cloud adoption and storage solutions within the life sciences and financial services industries. A decade has passed since cloud technology burst onto the scene with great promises, yet today, not everything resides “on the cloud.” As the hype around new technologies like AI starts to cool, Shardul offers legacy and regulated industry leaders actionable insights on driving a balanced approach—leveraging both cloud and endpoint storage to achieve their unique goals. Today’s episode is part of a special series sponsored by MinIO for a deep dive into the challenges and opportunities at the intersection of infrastructure investment, technology strategy, and competitive advantage in today’s evolving landscape. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
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