Gradwell Reveals How Much Storage Our Digital Files Use

New research carried out by Gradwell, has revealed just how much space our digital files take up our storage solutions.

In this digital age, it’s easy to take cloud storage for granted. Businesses are so used to having all of their data backed up instantly, without having to worry about where it’s gone or how much space it’s taking up. However, there are still many companies who aren’t using cloud storage to their advantage.

Here we’ll look at some of the most interesting insights from the Gradwell research and why cloud storage should be a vital part of any modern business.

Why Should Businesses Care About The Recent Gradwell Research?

So, why exactly is this new research from Gradwell important? Well, as well as offering an interesting insight into how much space these digital files take up, it also shows how vital cloud storage is.

Although many businesses do take advantage of cloud storage, there are some which still rely upon hard disk space. Then there are others who do use cloud storage but have no idea about space limitations or security options. Simply looking at the results of the research gives businesses an idea of how cloud storage can benefit them.

IMAGE: PEXELS

Key Statistics Produced

The Gradwell research produced a number of interesting statistics. It mainly looked into the IT, healthcare, customer service, and education sectors to see not only how many digital files they produced, but also the devices they mainly used and the type of files being saved.

[pullquote]Unsurprisingly, it found the IT sector had the biggest number of saved files, accounting to 1,500,000 files saved on a 1TB laptop, every three days.[/pullquote] Excel is the main program used for files within the sector, with each taking up around 700KB. Admittedly, it sounds a lot. However, the most surprising thing about this statistic is if you were to compare the number of files against a physical object, it would amount to the size of a plane.

The Gradwell research also found the customer service sector largely used Microsoft Word files at an average of 296KB each. Mobile phones are the main device used with an estimated 16GB storage. The physical comparison for this would be every 9 days, the files could fill up the average two-bedroom house.

So, just from these two statistics produced by Gradwell, you can see the staggering amount of space digital files take up.

The Trouble With Cloud Storage

While cloud storage does prove vital for businesses today, it isn’t without it’s challenges. There are a substantial number of cloud storage providers and not all of them offer the same level of benefits and security.

Even the top cloud storage providers don’t always guarantee security. Many businesses report missing files and security issues after using cloud-based services. This is largely because many are opting for the free storage service, which they don’t realise isn’t fully secure.

Another issue is capacity. While the cloud currently holds billions of files, certain providers, especially those offering free storage solutions, do put a cap on the number of files that can be saved. Therefore, it’s really important for businesses to ensure they’re choosing a service they can trust.

Overall, it is mind-boggling to think that there are billions of files floating around in the cloud. The amount of physical space it saves businesses is phenomenal. However, in order to reap the benefits, you do need to make sure you’re choosing a high-quality company such as Gradwell.

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