By Chris Norton, Country Manager Africa and Ian Englebrecht, Systems Engineering Manager for Africa, Veeam Software
As the continent looks to find ways of getting up to speed with working in the Metaverse given its potential to help grow GDP across the continent, attention must turn to how best to move huge workloads safely and on-demand across platforms and ecosystems. Africa has placed a significant focus on upgrading infrastructure to deliver a more connected, digital experience for businesses in the wake of the pandemic. If these businesses are to capitalise on the opportunities presented in the Metaverse, they must ensure that their most valuable asset i.e. data is well managed and protected as robustly as possible.
A clear Modern Data Protection strategy and effective management is already crucial for any information-dependent operation. But in a world where the Metaverse is expected to become an accepted form of conducting business, it will become even more so. Modern Data Protection gives businesses confidence that their data is protected and always available across on-premises, edge, and cloud. Through a single backup and data management platform for cloud, virtual, physical, SaaS and Kubernetes. Modern Data Protection enables companies across the continent to modernise backup and recovery, secure data against ransomware, and improve application performance. Given that the ‘modern’ in Modern Data Protection constantly evolves, businesses need to anticipate the next developments and seek future-proof solutions.
For C-suite executives in Africa who have embraced the move towards digital transformation it becomes important to understand how their businesses will exist in the era of the Metaverse and how they intend to use it or build a strategy around it. Will it be for immersive workspaces, to interact with customers, to sell goods and services or to add value to or streamline their real-world operations? A good starting point would be to consider the data and then think about the infrastructure required to support it.
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A virtual world of possibilities
Imagine something like the full Microsoft 365 experience being augmented with virtual reality. Imagine meeting co-workers and clients from around the world in a virtual boardroom with windows opening onto the shores of Lake Victoria without leaving the home office. Imagine being able to interact with this world the way you would in a physical space. Imagine your customers strolling through a virtual mall, touching, and interacting with your product before buying it. Imagine selling a product that is used exclusively in the virtual world – perhaps a new work wardrobe for your avatar.
While AI and smart glasses are already in use to guide critical workers through complex operations such as assembling power plants or jet engines, imagine all your complex manufacturing happening in a virtual twin world. Exciting or terrifying? You decide, but the race to the Metaverse is on.
We have already seen how complex cloud and data management platforms have become. The Metaverse will just add to this with African businesses looking to mix and match between on-premises data centres, and hybrid and multi-cloud environments. As well as ensuring data is stored securely and compliantly, IT departments will be expected to make sure that essential data is available. Furthermore, the company must be able to meet user demands at all times regardless of whether they are interacting in the real world or in the Metaverse.
Prioritising data protection
Fundamentally, the Metaverse will spur an entire new economy where people and businesses exchange goods and services. While this is not unusual for gamers who have already done this in titles such as Fortnite, the value being traded will be recognised by everyone and may well be cryptocurrency based on the blockchain or flat currency transferred digitally.
But what does any of this mean? To be frank, it means nothing without data. This is not a rewrite of the laws of computing or a rethink of reality. It is an evolution of how we generate and manage data. Yesterday (and today) the focus was on big data, efficiency, business intelligence, user experience, unified communications, and much more. Our next quantum leap in commuting – into the Metaverse – will be determined by how we plan, strategise, and manage data.
Given the diversity of the data digital businesses in Africa must manage, many are adopting multi-cloud strategies to take advantage of the security benefits of private cloud storage and the processing power of the public cloud. Businesses who are looking to embrace the Multiverse, should also embrace Modern Data Protection solutions to always protect data across all their environments.
Businesses in the digital economy are well aware of their reliance on digital infrastructure, and understand the need to invest in technologies to unlock future business capabilities. At the same time, digital transformation has become a case of risk reduction, especially given that the threat of cyber-attacks has accelerated along with increased use of digital services.
Unlocking the full potential of the Metaverse and the business opportunities it will enable will not be possible if organisations do not invest in platforms that will grow and scale – most likely exponentially. The golden thread tying all this together is that data must be protected every step of the way.
Modern Data Protection, especially backup, recovery, and security, has been crucial for many years. The rapid digitisation and uptake of hybrid cloud strategies have escalated the need for effective, interoperable data management. The Metaverse will ramp this up even more. There will be no ‘before and after’ Metaverse. Platforms and applications will be developed and patched together and the Metaverse will most likely be built organically. Before we know it, we will all be in it.
However, before African companies start getting carried away by the potential to sell products in the virtual world, they must think about how they will manage the integrity, safety, and availability of their customers’ data and the multifarious environments it will run over. Organisations must be thinking about ecosystems that can seamlessly scale with all this in mind. Modern Data Protection should be central to every digital strategy now and in the Metaverse to come.
Ian Engelbrecht is currently the Systems Engineering Manager for Africa, Veeam Software. His IT experience has given him the unique ability to apply technology, in all its forms, to business processes. Some of the business process knowledge includes accounting, finance, facilities, inventory control, budgeting, vendor management, and various operational processes.
With over 25 years’s experience in the IT sector, Christ Norton has a wealth of experience working in digitally-driven businesses. Norton joined Veeam as Country Manager of Africa in May 2021. Prior to that, he was the Regional Sales Director at Dell Technologies for four years. He has also held various senior leadership roles at ServiceNow, VMware, Citrix and Workgroup Distribution.