Businesses Continue To Invest Digitally And Plan For Expansion In The Next 12 Months: Equinix

By Kenn Anthony Mendoza

Australian businesses are planning major investments in digital technologies to support ambitious expansion plans following lessons learned from the pandemic, according to a survey by data centre company Equinix.

Findings suggest businesses appear to remain bullish about their plans for further global expansion despite concerns of a potential looming recession and talk at the World Economic Forum in Davos about the end of globalisation.

Seventy-two percent of the 2,900 IT decision makers surveyed in the 2022 Global Tech Trends Survey indicated their organisation is planning to expand into new markets in the next 12 months.

Further, almost half of the respondents (49%) said Melbourne is the most common market in Australia to have a presence in, or plans to expand within the next 12 months, followed by Sydney (45%).

More than half of Australia’s IT leaders (56%) are accelerating their company’s digital evolution because of the pandemic.

Fifty-three percent confirmed their IT budgets have increased as a result.

Furthermore, 61 per cent believed the technology changes and investments implemented during the pandemic are here to stay.

Yet Australian businesses identified limiting factors to success. Majority of respondents (74%) were concerned by security and data breaches and changing regulatory requirements around data privacy.

Seventy-one per cent were also concerned about cyber-attacks.

Despite threats, nearly 80 per cent of Australian respondents said they will remain or increase spending on carrier-neutral colocation solutions while 80 per cent said they intend to keep or increase investment in interconnection services to progress digital transformation and build resilience.

“This survey illustrates that Australia’s digital leaders, despite economic uncertainties and other challenges, will invest in and plan for continued digital expansion to ensure their future business success,” Equinix Australia managing director Guy Danskine said.

“It’s clear the pandemic has accelerated growth and innovation, and advanced organisations’ digital evolution. Australian businesses recognise the benefits and efficiencies of new digital models, such as multicloud strategies, to facilitate their ambitious growth plans, capitalising on emerging technologies that can deliver exceptional performance in real-time.”

Ensuring expansions are supported by resilient digital models is business-critical, particularly at a time of increasing volatility and emerging global threats.

Eighty-five per cent of Australian respondents confirmed complying with local market data regulations is critical, 82 per cent said a key priority is improving cybersecurity while 75 per cent highlighted the need to futureproof their businesses.

In addition, the survey revealed that in Australia:                                              

Customer and employee experience prioritised: Recognising digital adoption affects end users, 79 per cent said enhancing customer experience was a priority. Companies also acknowledged improving employee experience is critical to their transformation journey and retention of talent with 76 per cent citing this.

Cloud migration continues: 75 per cent of IT leaders said they plan to move more business functions to the cloud. Of those respondents, half plan to move more of their business-critical applications, and more than half (55%) intend to move security functions to the cloud.

Investing in innovation: Many IT leaders are looking to futureproof their businesses and take full advantage of evolving technologies, such as 5G, the internet of things (IoT), and Web3. Sixty-nine per cent of respondents said they are moving to an everything as a service (XaaS) model, citing the simplification of IT infrastructure (67%), improved user experience (52%) and flexibility (45%) as the key reasons for doing so.

Focusing on sustainability: While innovating, digital leaders are keeping a close eye on the sustainability of their IT infrastructure. Seventy-four percent say they have a plan in place to manage the environmental impact of growing data usage and 61 per cent are measuring and actively trying to limit the environmental impact of their IT equipment. Sixty-five per cent will only work with IT partners who can meet key carbon reduction targets. Indeed, 68 per cent report sustainability is now one of their organisation’s most important drivers with commitments made to science-based targets.

“Even as enterprises seek to navigate the waves of disruptions associated with inflation, supply chain disruptions, and unmet skills needs that arose in the first half of 2022, IDC consistently hears from IT leaders that timely and expansive access to innovative technology, interconnectivity, and intelligent SaaS resources is critical,” said IDC group vice president for worldwide research Rick Villars.

“Companies like Equinix, that can speed access to needed facilities and connectivity options, while also enabling more effective use of hybrid and multicloud services, will play a vital role in helping IT teams make sustainable technology investment decisions and take full advantage of SaaS and digital infrastructure.”

“This current trend is in line with findings from our latest study, where 85 per cent of IT leaders in Asia-Pacific were confident about global expansion strategies. Equinix is dedicated to helping our customers and partners seize every business opportunity through our global platform and interconnected digital ecosystem, especially under the post-pandemic landscape as businesses continue to navigate their digital transformation journeys to thrive in today’s digital world,” Equinix president Asia Pacific Jeremy Deutsch said.

• Editor’s Note: This first appeared in the subscription newsletter CommsWire on 7 July 2022.