EXPERT SPEAK
HOW DATA-DRIVEN DIGITAL SERVICE MODELS CAN PREVENT END-USER DOWNTIME
Central to any Digital Transformation strategy is meeting the needs of a new distributed workforce . Here , Karlton Gray , Channel Director , Schneider Electric , UK and Ireland , discusses changing business models , the need for real-time application availability , resilient connectivity , and why the surge in IoT devices is driving the growth of Edge computing and creating opportunities for channel partners .
For many years Digital Transformation has been a key focus for businesses , but during the past 18 months organisations efforts have accelerated , in some cases bringing about years of change in just a few months . Crucially , this shows no signs of slowing down . Research firm IDC forecasts that direct Digital Transformation ( DX ) investment growth between 2022 to 2024 will hit US $ 6.3 trillion – equating to 55 % of all ICT investment by the end of 2024 .
For the first time ever , we see that the majority of enterprise organisations ( 53 %) have an enterprise-wide Digital Transformation strategy , a 42 % increase from just two years ago . They recognise that their reliance on digital technology goes beyond keeping the lights on during the pandemic and now , their Digital Transformation initiatives can deliver a critical advantage in a disruptive and increasingly competitive market .
Calculating the cost of downtime
Central to any Digital Transformation strategy is meeting the needs of a new distributed workforce . Here , changing business models , the need for real-time
Karlton Gray , Channel Director , Schneider Electric , UK and Ireland application availability , resilient connectivity , and the surge in IoT devices is driving the growth of Edge computing . IDC , for example , estimates that businesses will deploy half of new IT infrastructure at the Edge by 2023 .
As dependency on critical power and hybrid infrastructure grows , organisations are facing new challenges to their mission-critical systems . These include the need to be more sustainable , maintaining staff levels , using the cloud , or building out critical IT at the Edge . At the same time , many customers are concerned about the resiliency of their infrastructure and the impact of failures upon their customer base . In the data centre sector especially , owners and operators have but one overriding requirement , which is availability . Recent research from the Uptime Institute notes that despite improving technology and better management processes , outages remain a major concern , with both the impact and cost of downtime increasing .
Power , in fact , remains the leading cause of outages , according to 43 % of IT and data centre managers . However , software and IT configuration and network issues are gaining ground as a common cause of a major IT service outage . In fact , the Uptime Institute says the rise in outages caused by IT systems and network issues is due to the shift from siloed IT services running on dedicated , specialised equipment to an architecture in which more IT functions run on standard IT systems – often distributed or replicated across many sites .
Human error also continues to cause significant impacts , and with more critical technologies being deployed in remote locations , or at the Edge of networks – including schools , hospitals , retail stores and
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