By Business & Finance 
Pictured: Maurice Mortell, Managing Director, Equinix Ireland
Maurice Mortell is Managing Director Ireland at Equinix, the world’s leading interconnection and colocation provider
The world of doing business has changed irrevocably. COVID-19 has been the biggest catalyst for digital transformation that we have seen so far. It has forced enterprises to put technology at the core of everything they do in order to manage fluctuations in demand and stay connected. The economy is becoming truly digitised and by providing businesses with mission-critical infrastructure, we at Equinix have enabled organisations to keep their lights on, while preparing them to thrive in a changed world.
In Ireland, Equinix is committed to helping Irish enterprises navigate this new era and prepare for the future. Over the past few months, we have been helping our customers to boost their digital capacity as they move operations online and to the cloud, while accelerating the speed at which they do it. This increased bandwidth and capacity is enabling businesses to manage their new digital workloads, driving a more resilient, adaptable economy with technology at its heart.
Before COVID-19, many businesses here were just at the start of their digital journeys; they knew becoming more tech-oriented would be central to their future, but they didn’t expect that need to come so soon. Overnight, they were propelled into a new world that required the rapid adoption of hybrid multi-cloud digital strategies that would allow them to stay connected with their customers, partners and employees – and in doing so, continue to operate.
There is no doubt that the magnitude of the office setting will diminish and with it, the belief that business can only happen in the city. Supporting this will be the emergence of 5G technology, which will give smaller towns across Ireland the same connectivity as the world’s biggest metropolises.
Those strategies will be just as critical in the future as they are now. With or without COVID-19, digital will be at the heart of doing business and enterprises will need to ensure that their infrastructure is ready to take on the “new norm”. Equinix, named by IDC in its inaugural MarketScape report as a leader in worldwide colocation and interconnection services, will be an essential partner in ensuring businesses are prepared for what is to come.
There is no doubt that the magnitude of the office setting will diminish and with it, the belief that business can only happen in the city. Supporting this will be the emergence of 5G technology, which will give smaller towns across Ireland the same connectivity as the world’s biggest metropolises. Cloud connectivity will therefore be essential to connect enterprises and ensure Ireland is not only rebooting our cities, but its towns, too. Workforces will likely become dispersed across the country and as a result, will benefit the micro economies they can now populate.
As the economy reignites, expansion will once again be on the agenda for many businesses. However, with enterprises now used to a faster, digital-first way of doing business, their go-to-market strategies must be transformed. Equinix Cloud Exchange Fabric™ (ECX Fabric), the world’s most interconnected cloud platform, uses high-speed, secure dedicated connections; enabling local enterprises to scale and access new markets at no capital cost. As budgets become constrained, this will give Irish organisations an opportunity to quickly and cost-effectively expand into 45 strategic markets worldwide.
As COVID-19 continues to impact people and businesses, the road ahead remains uncertain. What we do know, however, is that digital technology will be at the nucleus of the economic future. That makes Equinix’s mission clear, too: providing the cloud connectivity and digital infrastructure that will become the backbone of Ireland’s economy.
Maurice Mortell will discuss ‘Acceleration of Growth through Digital Transformation’ at The Business Show on Thursday 10th September.
