This blog is written as a two-part series:
Part 1 sets the stage, discusses challenges, and positions NetApp as the solution.
Part 2 focuses on industry-specific stories and practical business value, ending with a strong conclusion.
- Introduction
- Key Customer Challenges & Pain Points in the Data World
- 1. Data Silos and Fragmentation
- 2. Data Quality and Trust
- 3. Data Security and Compliance
- 4. Scalability and Performance
- 5. Data Integration and Interoperability
- 6. Real-Time Analytics Needs
- 7. Data Governance and Cataloging
- 8. Cost Management
- 9. Skill Gaps and Resource Constraints
- 10. Extracting Actionable Insights
- Why Customers Choose NetApp Over Others
- Tips for Sales Associates to Land, Expand, & Protect
- Summary
- Industry-specific customer stories from major domains
Introduction
To unlock actionable insights for AIML and analytical company needs, many organizations are generating and collecting more data than ever before – from IoT devices, business applications, customer interactions, and more. The promise is that this data can drive better decisions, innovation, and competitive advantage. However, turning raw data into actionable insights is not straightforward. There are several challenges, and pain points that customers face in the modern data landscape.
Today’s customers are challenged by the complexity, scale, leverage cost, and speed of the data world. They need solutions that break down silos, ensure data quality and security, scale efficiently, and make it easier to turn data into real business value.
Let’s break down key challenges with a common problem-solving approach and how NetApp’s solutions, especially ONTAP and Storage GRID (SG) can help to address each of the major data challenges. I’ll provide context for each challenge, then explain NetApp’s approach and key features.
Key Customer Challenges & Pain Points in the Data World
1. Data Silos and Fragmentation
- Background: Data is often spread across multiple systems, departments, clouds, and on-premises environments.
- Pain Point: It’s difficult to get a unified view, leading to incomplete or inconsistent insights.
Generic – Problem Solving Approach:
- Implement Data Integration Platforms: Use tools like ETL (Extract, Transform, Load), data virtualization, or data fabric solutions to unify data from disparate sources.
- Adopt Cloud or Hybrid Data Lakes: Centralize data storage to enable easier access and analytics.
- Promote Cross-Department Collaboration: Establish governance policies that encourage sharing and standardization.
NetApp Capabilities & Solution proposal:
- Unified Data Management: NetApp ONTAP manages file, block, and object data across on-premises, edge, and cloud environments.
- Hybrid Cloud Integration: Easily connect and replicate data between on-premises and public clouds (AWS, Azure, Google).
2. Data Quality and Trust
- Background: Data may be inaccurate, outdated, or incomplete.
- Pain Point: Poor data quality leads to bad analytics and mistrust in insights, which can cause costly business mistakes.
Generic – Problem Solving Approach:
- Automate Data Cleansing: Use data quality tools to detect and fix errors, duplicates, and inconsistencies.
- Establish Data Stewardship: Assign data owners responsible for maintaining quality.
- Regular Audits: Schedule periodic reviews and validation of critical datasets.
NetApp Capabilities & Solution proposal:
- Snapshot and Cloning: ONTAP provides instant, space-efficient snapshots and clones for testing, training and validation, helping maintain data integrity.
- Automated Data Protection: Built-in backup, replication, and recovery features ensure data consistency and reliability.
3. Data Security and Compliance
- Background: Regulations like GDPR, CCPA, and industry-specific rules require strict data governance.
- Pain Point: Ensuring data privacy, security, and compliance is complex and resource intensive.
Generic – Problem Solving Approach:
- Encrypt Data at Rest and in Transit: Use strong encryption standards across all environments.
- Implement Role-Based Access Controls (RBAC): Limit access to sensitive data based on user roles.
- Automate Compliance Monitoring: Use tools that continuously check for regulatory compliance and generate audit trails.
NetApp Capabilities & Solution proposal:
- End-to-End Encryption: Data is encrypted at rest and in transit, meeting stringent security standards.
- Role-Based Access Control (RBAC): Fine-grained permissions restrict access to sensitive data.
- Compliance Features: ONTAP and Storage GRID support WORM (Write Once, Read Many), legal hold, and audit logging for regulatory compliance (e.g., GDPR, HIPAA).
4. Scalability and Performance
- Background: Data volumes are growing exponentially.
- Pain Point:Legacy infrastructure can’t keep up, causing slow queries, downtime, or high costs.
Generic – Problem Solving Approach:
- Leverage Cloud Scalability: Use cloud-native storage and compute resources that scale on demand.
- Optimize Storage Architecture: Use tiered storage, caching, and data reduction technologies.
- Monitor and Tune Performance: Employ monitoring tools to identify bottlenecks and optimize queries.
NetApp Capabilities & Solution proposal:
- Scale-Out Architecture:Both ONTAP and Storage GRID scale from terabytes to petabytes, supporting growth without disruption.
- Performance Optimization:Features like intelligent caching, tiering, and QoS (Quality of Service) ensure fast, predictable performance.
- Non-Disruptive Operations:Upgrades and expansions happen without downtime.
5. Data Integration and Interoperability
- Background: Organizations use a mix of legacy and modern tools, both on-premises and in the cloud.
- Pain Point: Integrating these systems is technically challenging and often requires custom solutions.
Generic – Problem Solving Approach:
- Adopt Open Standards and APIs: Use standardized data formats (e.g., JSON, Parquet) and APIs for easier integration.
- Use Integration Middleware: Employ platforms that connect legacy and modern systems seamlessly.
- Invest in Data Catalogs: Make it easier to discover and connect to data sources for EDA (Exploratory Data Analysis).
NetApp Capabilities & Solution proposal:
- Multi-Protocol Support:ONTAP supports NFS, SMB, iSCSI, S3, and more, enabling integration with diverse applications, and modern data platforms. And SG (Storage GRID) with S3 works & supports the same as AWS S3.
- APIs and Automation: REST APIs, MCP Agentic and integration with orchestration tools (e.g., Kubernetes, Ansible) streamline workflows.
6. Real-Time Analytics Needs
- Background: Businesses want to act on data as it’s generated (e.g., fraud detection, personalized offers).
- Pain Point: Real-time data processing is hard to implement and scale.
Generic – Problem Solving Approach:
- Deploy Stream Processing Platforms: Use technologies like Apache Kafka, Spark/Flink Streaming, or cloud-native equivalents.
- Implement Event-Driven Architectures: Design systems to react to data changes instantly.
- Optimize for Low Latency: Use in-memory databases and fast storage solutions.
NetApp Capabilities & Solution proposal:
- High-Performance Storage: ONTAP’s low-latency architecture supports real-time analytics workloads with various data platforms.
- Cloud Analytics Integration: Easily connect to cloud-based analytics services, leveraging hybrid architectures for speed and scale.
7. Data Governance and Cataloging
- Background: As data grows, it’s hard to track where it lives, who owns it, and how it’s used. Sometimes it is hard to find actual data set source of truth.
- Pain Point: Lack of governance leads to data chaos, security risks, and inefficiencies.
Generic – Problem Solving Approach:
- Establish a Data Governance Framework: Define policies for data ownership, usage, and lifecycle management.
- Deploy Data Catalogs: Use tools that automatically index and document datasets.
- Educate Staff: Train teams on governance best practices and responsibilities.
NetApp Capabilities & Solution proposal:
- Data Management Tools: NetApp Cloud Data Sense automates data discovery, classification, and governance across environments.
- Policy-Based Management: Set policies for data retention, access, and movement to meet governance requirements.
8. Cost Management
- Background: Storing and processing large volumes of data can be expensive.
- Pain Point: Without proper tiering and management, costs can spiral out of control.
Generic – Problem Solving Approach
- Implement Storage Tiering: Automatically move infrequently accessed data to lower-cost storage.
- Monitor Usage and Costs: Use cloud cost management tools to track and optimize spending.
- Automate Data Lifecycle Policies: Delete or archive obsolete data regularly.
NetApp Capabilities & Solution proposal
- Storage Efficiency: Deduplication, compression, and thin provisioning reduce storage footprint and costs.
- Automated Tiering: Move cold or infrequently accessed data to lower-cost storage tiers (on-prem or cloud).
- Usage Analytics: Monitor and optimize storage usage with built-in analytics tools.
9. Skill Gaps and Resource Constraints
- Background: Data science and analytics talent is in high demand.
- Pain Point: Many organizations lack the expertise to build and maintain modern data platforms.
Generic – Problem Solving Approach:
- Invest in Training and Upskilling: Provide ongoing education for staff in data management and analytics.
- Leverage Managed Services: Use cloud or vendor-managed solutions to reduce operational burden.
- Foster a Data-Driven Culture: Encourage all employees to engage with data and analytics.
NetApp Capabilities & Solution proposal:
- Intuitive Management Interfaces: Simplified GUIs and automation reduce the need for deep technical expertise.
- Managed Services: NetApp offers cloud-based and managed solutions, offloading operational complexity.
- Extensive Training and Support: NetApp provides resources, documentation, expert support along with POC’s and benchmarking evaluations if customer demands.
10. Extracting Actionable Insights
- Background: Even with lots of data, turning it into useful gold copy, actionable insights is hard.
- Pain Point: Analytics tools may be too complex, or insights may not be delivered in time to make a difference.
Generic – Problem Solving Approach:
- Simplify Analytics Tools: Choose user-friendly BI and analytics platforms that democratize access to insights.
- Automate Reporting: Set up dashboards and alerts for key metrics.
- Focus on Business Outcomes: Align analytics projects with specific business goals and KPIs.
NetApp Capabilities & Solution proposal:
- Integrated Analytics: NetApp Cloud Insights provides monitoring, analytics, and visualization for storage and application performance.
- Data Mobility: Easily integrate to analytics platforms (on-prem or cloud) for faster insights – with NO data move, and it avoids in-terms of time and cost for migration efforts, new subscriptions/license, n/w transfer cost, and security risks with no data leaks.
- Automation: Automate reporting and alerting for key metrics.
Why Customers Choose NetApp Over Others
- Proven Reliability: Decades of innovation and enterprise trust.
- Seamless Hybrid Cloud: Deep integration with major cloud providers.
- Easy to Modern Data Platforms: Simple integration with most of the modern platforms like Databricks, Snowflake, Dremio, Starburst, etc. In fact, you can integrate simply by changing the connection string to point to NetApp (ONTAP or SG).
- Advanced Data Services: Security, compliance, automation, analytics.
- Lower TCO: Efficient storage and management reduce costs.
- Future-Proof: Scalable architecture adapts to changing needs.
- Data Mobility: Minimal data movement cost if customer decided to move data between clouds and/or to on-prem, while maintaining compliance and robust security standards.
- Flexibility: NetApp empowers you to select the solutions and features that best fit your business needs and customer demands. There’s no vendor lock-in – giving you the freedom to adapt, scale, and evolve as your requirements change, just focus on your business functionality.
Tips for Sales Associates to Land, Expand, & Protect
- Identify the Customer’s Challenges: What pain points did they face?
- Describe the Solution: How did NetApp solve it?
- Highlight Unique Features: What sets NetApp apart?
- Show Tangible Results: Use metrics, quotes, and business impact.
- Keep it Authentic: Use real scenarios and relatable language.
** Understand customer challenges, interests, and demands. Take calls, consult with respective SME’s and assist accordingly.
Expand & Protect: Most of the existing customers are already familiar with NetApp products, typically using either ONTAP, or Storage GRID, or a combination of both for hybrid solutions.
- ONTAP is often chosen for high-velocity data ingestion and Online Transaction Processing (OLTP) systems, which require fast, efficient handling of real-time, day-to-day transactions on SQL, NoSQL, Vector, Graph databases, as well as integration with messaging systems like Kafka and GenAI-RAG, HPC analytical, training & inferencing platforms.
- StorageGRID is well-suited for Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) workloads, supporting complex analytical queries on large datasets. This enables customers to retain and analyze historical data over many years, making it ideal for big data, AI/ML workloads and long-term audits.
Hybrid customers may choose to expand their use and business values with combination of both ONTAP and SG, ONTAP as landing zone for OLTP purpose and SG as OLAP to keep their data longer time with less cost as object store for analytical and future engineering needs. Few cases, customers may shift between them, depending on evolving data requirements of their business demands.
Land: For new customers, conduct multiple discovery sessions & interviews to thoroughly understand their needs and interests.
- Use internal expertise and targeted questionnaires to evaluate their requirements.
- Guide them in selecting the most suitable NetApp products, ensuring a smooth onboarding experience.
- If required have suitable examples with Demos and/or POC’s, etc.
Summary
To succeed in today’s data-driven world, it’s essential to understand each customer’s unique challenges and requirements –helping existing customers expand or optimize their NetApp solutions and guiding new customers through detailed assessments to recommend the best fit for their use cases. As many organizations strategically migrate workloads from public clouds back to on-premises environments to control costs, meet compliance, safeguard data sovereignty, and ensure predictable performance, NetApp’s ONTAP and Storage GRID platforms offer a robust, scalable, and secure foundation for unified data management. This synergy eliminates the need for ongoing refactoring or architectural changes, providing a single source of truth and unwavering stability for business-critical operations.
Overcoming modern data challenges requires more than technology – it demands strong processes, governance, and a skilled workforce. NetApp’s integrated ecosystem empowers organizations to extract maximum value from their data, reduce costs, and stay compliant, whether data resides on-premises, in the cloud, or across both. By delivering industry-specific solutions tailored to real pain points combining reliability, security, scalability, cost efficiency, and deep cloud integration.
NetApp stands out as a future-proof platform trusted by industry leaders for unmatched performance and exceptional value.
Industry-specific customer stories from major domains
