By Business & Finance 
Maurice Mortell, Managing Director for Ireland and Emerging Markets, Equinix
An independent survey by interconnectivity and data centre firm Equinix shows that the Interconnected Era has replaced the Information Age.
Just over half (51%) of the people surveyed agreed that the Interconnected Era has taken over the Information Age.
The Equinix survey took in senior IT decision-makers and found 80% of them use the public Internet to exchange data with employees, partners, customers and others outside of core infrastructures. These same people are concerned about the security of their data. This is will be even more pronounced with the installation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) on May 25, 2018.
The survey also makes clear that as more enterprises migrate data and services to the cloud, interconnection becomes even more important. 79% of those surveyed said they would consider important that their business has direct interconnection on the same network with service providers such as Google, Amazon and Microsoft.
89% agreed it is important for them to connect to external digital ecosystems in order to scale; only 11% disagreed.
Instant and reliable connectivity around the world has opened new paths to growth and opportunity for Irish businesses. The most important enablers for digital transformation, according to the people surveyed are ability to transfer data (67%), hybrid-cloud infrastructure (58%) and interconnection with digital partners (57%).
98% 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% say that they expect it to grow by more than one-fifth. This increase in volume has business owners more concerned over connectivity infrastructure, 54% saying data will be far more complex to manage.
The Managing Director of Equinix in Ireland and Emerging Markets, Maurice Mortell, 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.
“Survey respondents clearly agree that data volumes are growing, and this is causing a host of business challenges, among which is an increase in the complexity of managing the digital side of their business. Those who still rely on the public Internet to exchange data with employees, partners, customers and others outside of their core infrastructure are experiencing increased latency, which causes serious business challenges. As well as this, it is clear from the results that Irish businesses are concerned about the security of data transferred via the public Internet.”
You can read more about the finding here.
