Global digital leaders’ views on the trends, challenges and opportunities
shaping businesses around the world.
COVID-19 has proved to be the spark that ignited the digital transformation journey (DX) for a lot of companies. Trends that had been building for many years have been supercharged by the pandemic.
Digital leaders have poured time, effort and money into the digitisation of their organisations, and believe interconnection has played and will continue to play, a key role in this evolution.
Equinix’s recently released 2020-21 Global Tech Trends Survey gathered the opinions of 2,600 IT decision-makers from diverse enterprises across the Americas, Asia-Pacific and EMEA regions, on these industry-shaping trends and the challenges and opportunities.
The survey showed COVID-19 fast-tracked the transformation of business-critical digital infrastructures around the world.
The study also revealed:
- 51 per cent of global businesses have rearchitected their IT infrastructure to meet new remote and hybrid working demands, with tech budgets increasing to accelerate digital transformation.
- 64 per cent of digital leaders believe there will be long-term changes to where and how people work within their organisation.
More than half (57 per cent)Â of companies globally still intend to expand into new regions, countries or metros, despite the disruption experienced as a result of COVID-19.
Digital transformation in the post-pandemic future
- Digitisation and business investment in digital infrastructure have increased as a result of COVID-19. 47 per cent of the digital leaders surveyed around the world said they have accelerated digital transformation plans because of the pandemic, while 42 per cent said their budgets have been increased to satisfy the rapid growth in digital demands.
- There has also been a major overhaul of IT strategies to meet the challenges emerging from the pandemic. Six in 10 said they have revised their IT strategy as a result of COVID-19, while 58 per cent said they want to invest in technology to be more agile post-COVID.
- Asked about their biggest priorities for their organisation’s digital strategy, 80 per cent of respondents reported digitising their IT infrastructure was a top priority, with 57 per cent saying they see interconnection as a key facilitator of digital transformation—up 9 per cent on last year’s results.
Concerns the pandemic put the brakes on companies’ expansion plans lessened
- About 57 per cent of businesses still have plans to expand into new regions, countries or metros, according to the digital leaders surveyed.
- Of that 57 per cent, nearly two-thirds (63 per cent) plan to achieve this virtually, rather than by investing in physical IT infrastructure in-market.
Utilising interconnection for success
- 58 per cent of IT leaders said they believe interconnection—the direct and private exchange of data between organisations—will help them to navigate the challenges they face due to COVID-19.
- Those stating interconnection was key to their organisation’s survival increased to 50 per cent, up from 45 per cent last year.
