New Delhi, Dec 11 (IANS): As more and more Indian firms aim to go digital, 39 per cent of those are still unaware of object-based data storage that offers cost-effective and flexible modern data management, a new survey said on Tuesday.

Object-based storage architectures enable enterprises to deal with the drastic growth of data while improving ease of use and providing flexibility to scale capacity and performance,

According to the survey by Hitachi Vantara, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Japanese tech conglomerate Hitachi, there is a low awareness of object storage among enterprises in the the country.

Hitachi Vantara partnered with global research firm IDC to reach 1,392 IT professionals and executives in India for the survey.

"We believe the findings have pinpointed the opportunities and future of data storage infrastructure across India.

"With the explosive growth of unstructured data and rapidly changing business demands in the digital age, enterprises inevitably require the support from flexible and agile storage solutions," said Daniel Chong, Senior Vice President and General Manager, APAC, Hitachi Vantara.

When asked about the top priorities for data storage, respondents in India indicated the following capabilities as being the most important for their organisations to support: Information security (33 per cent), Internet of Things (12 per cent) and adopting Public Cloud (10 per cent).

"In addition to this, 77 per cent Indian enterprises are storing data with the hope that in the next two years, they will be able to use analytics to gain business insights from this data, whereas 76 per cent are storing data with the hope that they will be able to use it for regulatory compliance," the findings showed.

On average, enterprises in India store their data for five to seven years, with 16 per cent choosing to store it for over 15 years.

Thirteen per cent of Indian businesses plan to store their data forever, suggesting further pressure to manage and govern tremendous amounts of data created and accumulated over time.

"It is evident that enterprises in the region are facing huge issues concerning data storage costs and functionality. Data storage solutions are expected to store and manage large amounts of data for longer periods of time," said the survey.