A New Era for IT and Data, Finds Survey

The so-called ‘interconnected era’ has replaced the ‘information age’, according to the results of a new survey. The survey of senior IT decision-makers, commissioned by interconnection and data centre company Equinix Inc., found that just over half of those surveyed (51 per cent) believed that the interconnected era has taken over from the information age.

It also found that 80 per cent of those who use the public internet to exchange data with employees, partners, customers and others outside of their core infrastructure are concerned about the security of their data. Security of data is set to become even more of a concern for Irish businesses when General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into force on 25 May 2018.

The survey makes it clear that, as more enterprises migrate data and services to the cloud, interconnection with leading global digital service providers is a key business enabler. 79 per cent of those surveyed said that they consider it important for their business to have direct interconnection on the same network with service providers such as Google, Amazon and Microsoft. As well as this, 89 per cent of respondents agreed that it is important for their business to connect with external digital ecosystems in order to scale. Just 11 per cent said that interconnection was not important to scaling their business.

The findings also highlight that instant and reliable connectivity around the world has opened new paths to growth and opportunity for Irish businesses. As more organisations seek to digitally transform their businesses processes to remain competitive, interconnection becomes increasingly important. When asked to select the most important enablers of digital transformation, survey respondents identified interconnection with digital partners as one of the top three facilitators (57 per cent), alongside the ability to transfer data (67 per cent) and a hybrid-cloud infrastructure (58 per cent).

Equinix’s survey found that data volumes are continuing to grow rapidly. 98 per cent of those who took the survey said that they expect the amount of data stored by their organisation to grow within the next 12 months. 41 per cent say that they expect it to grow by more than one-fifth.

Such massive growth in data volumes is causing other business challenges too; almost one-third (29 per cent) of respondents admitted that external network-related latency was causing them challenges due to information exchange being too slow. More than half (54 per cent) of senior IT decision makers say that the explosion of external data sources, data locations and applications makes managing the digital side of their business significantly more complex.

Commenting on the findings, Maurice Mortell, Managing Director for Ireland and Emerging Markets, Equinix, said: “The results of this survey highlight the increasing interdependence of Irish businesses and the associated move towards interconnection as a key business enabler. To maintain a competitive advantage, organisations are embracing digital transformation and interconnecting with one another, key service providers and customers.”

Pictured above: Maurice Mortell, Managing Director for Ireland and Emerging Markets, Equinix