We all want to compete like Amazon and Google – and while we understand that it’s ‘all about the data,’ we stand in awe of the mountain of it that each of these titans has amassed on us over time… not to mention the rate at which they continue to amass it.
It may be impossible to outpace the titans at their own game… but I’m surprised by how many organizations still overlook the biggest opportunity to tap the full strategic potential of their business data – their historical backup data.
Think about all of the historical data that we constantly overwrite over time – an NPS score here, a pipeline conversion rate there… we throw away valuable data about subtle changes happening in our business all the time: data that can help us identify new opportunities to grow revenue or retain customers.
It’s time we see our historical data as a strategic asset, not just a backup.
So many organizations preserve their historical data for regulatory, governance or security reasons. And these are some of the reasons a number of iconic companies in the world use GRAX Time Machine to capture and preserve every single change in their data over time.
But if you look at the data backup and resilience market at large, just about every tool is purpose-built solelywith those ‘resilience’ scenarios in mind. How do I know that? Just look at how most of these tools deal with the data they capture:
- They capture scheduled snapshots of your data as opposed to every single change – this misses the biggest opportunity to help you compete like amazon – the capture of subtle changes in data over time.
- They shelve that data in 3rd party tools, or make it available in i-framed views in your SaaS applications – this takes away your ability to analyze your historical data alongside your current data – essentially limiting your ability to connect past and present, cause and effect
- They break your Chain of Custody of the data by forcing you to store it in their clouds – this often creates more security or compliance risk than it solves
And honestly, you can’t blame them. Before I joined GRAX, I thought of backup data as just that – a compliance checkbox. Then I talked to Joe Gaska – and he shared with me why he started GRAX. He showcased powerful business acceleration scenarios implemented by some of the largest, most reputable companies in the world using GRAX – it goes so far beyond backup.
Sure we have customers using GRAX Time Machine to capture every single change in their data for regulatory reasons. But more often than not, when they see that data live alongside their hot data right inside of Salesforce Reports and Dashboards, you can see their gears starting to turn. For every customer talking about it publicly (like ServiceSource), there are dozens of others looking at GRAX as a way to compete like Amazon in their respective markets.
If you want to compete like Amazon or Google in your market, you need to start using your backup data as a strategic growth asset.
If you don’t, chances are someone in your market will – if they haven’t already.
