Raising the bar for modern connectivity
No matter their size, purpose, or industry, businesses across the world are all evolving towards a more digital way of working. In fact, global spending on digital transformation is expected to reach almost $4 trillion by 2027.
But any form of digital transformation increases the requirement for fast, secure data flows. And this means it must be underpinned by modern connectivity to deliver real value. An IDC infobrief focusing on European businesses reveals that digital transformation journeys will stall unless organizations have high quality, reliable, robust, and secure network connectivity.
Here are just three of the trends contributing to the need for modern connectivity, according to the report.
1. From cloud migrants to digital natives
Organizations are finally getting comfortable in the cloud. They’re focusing on rebuilding and rearchitecting their legacy systems in a cloud-native environment, with 61% citing this as their key IT modernization initiative. What’s more, to better support distributed systems and AI applications, businesses are increasingly adopting a multi-cloud or hybrid-cloud approach.
To optimize cloud performance, enterprises need to consider how data flows to, from, and between cloud environments, applications, and on-premise data centers. Almost two-thirds (64%) say network latency and performance is a technical challenge for their cloud migration, and 51% have plans to deploy multi-cloud networking in the near future.
2. A new era of AI acceleration
It’s virtually impossible to talk about digital transformation without referencing current developments in AI. The IDC infobrief reveals 53% of enterprises are exploring potential AI use cases that may transform their operations, while 23% say they’re making significant investments in generative AI.
A large proportion of AI deployment is inevitably taking place in the cloud, where enterprises benefit from speed, scalability, security, and accessibility. Almost half (45%) of the companies exploring AI are currently using or intend to use the cloud to do so. The three most common use cases for AI in public clouds are:
- Process optimization
- Advanced data analytics
- Intelligent agents or chatbots
To make the most of AI, businesses need data to be able to travel between networks and cloud environments as quickly as possible via short, secure pathways. They’ll require high quality networking solutions that enable high performance and low latency. When asked about their top multi-cloud networking use cases, 61% identified running AI workloads across on-premise, hybrid, and public clouds.
3. Data security and compliance requirements
Digital transformation efforts are inevitably accompanied by growing concerns around data privacy and security. European businesses need to comply with a range of regulations such as the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA), the Network and Information Systems (NIS) 2, and the voluntary EU Cybersecurity Certification Scheme for Cloud Services (EUCS). To do this they need to ensure:
- Customer data remains secure in transit
- Data is protected against foreign interference or unauthorized access
- Network infrastructure remains resilient and protected
Two-thirds (66%) of European organizations say cloud security initiatives would be the last ones to be cancelled if budgets were cut due to economic pressures, and businesses cite security and compliance as their biggest networking concern.
Network requirements must be considered from the start
Many businesses see network and connectivity performance as one of the biggest inhibitors to their digital ambitions, according to the report. It suggests modern connectivity must be considered from the outset of any digital transformation initiative, with network specialists involved from the get-go.
To find out more about why enterprises need modern connectivity to support digital transformation, take a look at the IDC infobrief, How connectivity will help enable the top IT trends.