New research on how COVID-19 is boosting digital transformation
There has been a major overhaul of IT strategies to meet challenges emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic, according to new research.
Equinix has announced the findings of its annual study on the views of IT decision-makers regarding the largest technology trends affecting businesses worldwide.
The survey covered 2,600 IT decision-makers from diverse enterprises across 26 countries in the Americas, Asia-Pacific, and EMEA regions, and focused largely on the impact of COVID-19 on digital infrastructure plans.
In Hong Kong the study reveals 66% of businesses have restructured their IT infrastructure to meet new remote and hybrid working demands, with tech budgets increasing to accelerate digital transformation.
It found that 49% of digital leaders believe there will be long term changes to where and how people work within their organisation, and that 42% of companies in Hong Kong still intend to expand into new regions, countries or metros, despite the disruption experienced as a result of COVID-19.
Digitisation and business investment into digital infrastructure have increased as a result of COVID-19, with 36% of digital leaders in Hong Kong having accelerated digital transformation plans because of the pandemic, and 40% saying their IT budgets have increased to satisfy the growth in digital demands.
According to Equinix, there has also been a major overhaul of IT strategies to meet the challenges emerging from the pandemic. More than two-thirds of those surveyed in Hong Kong said they have revised their IT strategy as a result of COVID-19, while 56% said they want to invest in technology to be more agile post-COVID-19.
Equinix says when asked about the biggest priorities for their organisation's digital strategy, 58% of Hong Kong respondents reported that digitising their IT infrastructure was a top priority, with 57% saying they see interconnection as a key facilitator of digital transformation.
"During the pandemic, Asia-Pacific has seen demands for interconnection from digital leaders to manage a distributed workforce and make the best use of resources," says Equinix's president, Jeremy Deutsch.
"This is reflected in the findings of our study with over 60% of IT decision-makers in Asia-Pacific confirming that interconnection will help them to navigate the challenges faced as a result of COVID-19, and 56% believing interconnection can help their business gain competitive advantage within the marketplace.
"With our global footprint, robust ecosystem and a wide array of interconnection solutions, we plan to continue to bring and interconnect the digital infrastructure to help digital leaders thrive in the new era," he says.
In a market study recently published by Equinix called the Global Interconnection Index Volume 4, it is forecast that the overall interconnection bandwidth measure for the transfer of data between organisations in Asia-Pacific will achieve a 47% compound annual growth rate from 2019 to 2023.
The expected growth is driven by digital transformation, and specifically by greater demands from enterprises extending their digital infrastructure from centralised locations to distributed edge locations.
