Ways to Interpret How Data Centre Supports Digital Transformation

•  Viren Wadhwa

In order to adapt to the new normal as a result of COVID-19. Just within a span of few days enterprises in nearly every industry have had to identify new ways to communicate with their customers and stakeholders be it healthcare, education, retail , and even with their employees The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted every Indian economic sector and accelerated the drive towards becoming virtually connected. It was the data centre backed IT infrastructure that enabled handling a sudden spike in virtual connectivity to proceed smoothly, bringing relief to millions in this time of uncertainty.

Pre Pandemic: Building Data Centre Backbone

If there was a scepticism about the future of data centres supporting digital transformation, consumer behavior during the pandemic laid them to rest. During the nation-wide lockdown, people stayed away from public places amidst a system of isolation. A survey indicates that almost 75% of consumer preference rapidly shifted from OOH billboard, radio, and audio channels to social media, streaming services, and video consumption.

Just as consumer behavior shifted, many enterprises incessantly changed their operational strategies in the wake of a remote work situation. To ensure workforce safety and smooth operations, businesses moved their infrastructure to colocation facilities that offered robust data centre support and reliability.

The Critical Technology Edge in the New Normal

The new normal makes data centres crucial as they offer mission-critical facilities. The data centre market is primed to expand with a higher penetration of e-commerce, data-driven business models, digital payments, and a push for data localization. The Asia Pacific data centre investment market is expected to increase to 30% in the year 2020 from 18% in 2019.

The growing importance of big data, 5G, internet of things, and cloud computing have seen data centres take on a prominent role – a trend accelerated by the surge in processing and storage requirements resulting from increased remote working during the COVID-19 pandemic.

India data centre market is expected to reach USD 4 billion by 2025 at a CAGR of over 4%, where Mumbai and Chennai are emerging cities for such facilities. It is now essential for companies to migrate to the infrastructure of the future, focusing on digital channels and connectivity. The need for data centre support is not future-proofing towards digitalization, it is crucial for functioning and strengthening digital engagement with customers.

As enterprises – irrespective of their size – turn towards contactless and digital services in the post-COVID era, they need to upgrade on-premise infrastructure to simplify management, accommodate growth, and improve end-user experience. For smooth functioning of all operation and easy access to data, enhanced interconnectivity is essential, where data centre support can play a crucial role.

The concept of data centres is also changing with the shifting landscape, which has begun to enable better connectivity with efficient support. Removal of latency barriers in interconnectivity is essential in the growing digital era. Data centres are on the edge of digital transformation. It reflected better when last year Cisco and (AARNet) Australia’s Academic and Research Network successfully conducted 600GB per second terrestrial trial. It only paints a picture of how connectivity is becoming increasingly better in this age of digital transformation.

Data centre support is key for achieving efficacy as it helps centralize, automate, and deliver the flow of data and information with optimized connectivity in a secure manner. This next-gen infrastructure is laying the foundation for a 24*7 virtual space continuity making consumer experience easy, effortless, and convenient.

Going Digital with Data Centres for Post-COVID Relevance

The real technological backbone powering the growth of the digital ecosystem is data centres – the principal growth engine with the capacity to empower a new set of business ideas post-COVID. In the new digital environment, the Indian economy enabled by data centre support will emerge more resilient and primed for growth and innovation leading the way.

Data centre service providers are also embracing this change for the post-pandemic era as they remain crucial enablers in driving business and technological transformation.

STT GDC India continues to provide exceptional operational and data centre support services to its clients for innovation in this digital era with 16 state-of-the-art data centres across 8 cities for hosting mission-critical infrastructure. When stepping into the post-pandemic world of uncertainty, our data centre support services will constantly meet the changing demands for keeping up with the digital transformations.