The range of cloud services is growing. At the same time, the demands for transformation and digital development are increasing. Most companies today have a growing mix of cloud services, their own solutions and third-party integrations that all need to work together. How well and securely the communication in these hybrid environments works will be crucial for how companies succeed in their business. For you, who are a provider of IT services and a system integrator, this also means new opportunities.
Two important challenges for corporate IT
As a result of more and more cloud alternatives and increasing mobility, companies today face two main challenges when it comes to IT infrastructure. This is partly because companies that offer digital services and cloud solutions are dependent on a large number of communication providers to be able to deliver a good customer experience. The second challenge is that many people are under pressure to move from a Capex operating model to an Opex model in order to be competitive and therefore choose to transfer large parts of their IT to the cloud. This has led to them being forced to find new ways to access these cloud services in a secure and reliable way, without the connection costs skyrocketing or critical data being exposed to the public.
Many companies choose a hybrid environment for their IT without having the entire map ready
Each cloud solution, IT system and application has its respective advantages and strengths but needs to interact with each other in a modern environment to fulfill a purpose. These hybrid environments place completely new demands on the connections between users, applications and processes. The question then becomes how companies should be able to ensure a seamless and secure connection between their various IT platforms? And how should they think to create a sourcing model as optimum as possible with high flexibility and performance?
Many larger companies are still stuck in a traditional network architecture with Wide Area Network (WAN), where the company's data centre - in-house or via external operation - is the hub for all applications and data. This architecture is built on the basis of an on-premise strategy and therefore not adapted to the conditions set in the new hybrid environments that are now the norm. In a reality where both customers and employees want to access applications and business-critical data directly via their mobile devices, an outdated strategy is not sustainable and in some cases even risky. Instead, a new way of thinking about interconnectivity and network strategy is required. Here, as an IT provider and system integrator, you can play an important role in helping your customers draw the new map for a successful digital transformation.
Own data centre - a costly false security?
As an IT service provider, it can feel safe to be able to offer your customers their own data centre, locally and conveniently with full control of the IT environment. However, as the number of cloud services grows, which it will, the risks of having your own data centre increase, not least the financial ones. Today, a lot of capital is tied up in large and expensive facilities. It becomes costly to scale up when customers' needs grow at the same time as it becomes increasingly difficult to calculate capacity needs over time. This means that many people today pay dearly for unused capacity when more and more applications are moved to the cloud. As more and more people choose cloud solutions, it also often becomes expensive and complicated to ensure good interconnectivity with all the different cloud providers that customers want to connect to.
Keep track of today's challenges and prepare for the future
A modern highly connected colocation data centre has direct on-ramp cloud access, connectivity, scalability and the flexibility you need to help your customers get their hybrid environment together. Gathering different IT players in one place also opens up new collaboration opportunities that can help strengthen your offering. In this way, you can become even better at helping your customers to a more cost-effective, future-proof and smart digital transformation.
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