Businesses in India are planning major investments in digital technologies to support ambitious expansion plans after lessons learnt from the pandemic. New findings from an annual survey of technology decision-makers, by Equinix, Inc., suggest that 96% of IT leaders in India indicated their organization is planning to expand into new markets in the next 12 months. A majority (67%) of those planning an expansion said they are most likely to support it by deploying virtually in the short-term and then building permanent physical infrastructure when needed.
The pandemic also continues to have a significant impact on Indian businesses’ digital strategies with 63% of respondents citing that their IT strategy has become more aggressive and ambitious because of the pandemic. Indeed, 65% confirm their IT budgets have increased as a direct outcome of its legacy – an insight into the now broadly acknowledged necessity for robust digital infrastructure to pivot to evolving business needs in an instant. Furthermore, a majority of respondents (63%) believed the technology changes and investments implemented during the pandemic are here to stay.
More than half of Indian businesses (57%) surveyed for the Equinix 2022 Global Tech Trends Survey are observing a significant positive business impact from having a strong 5G network to take advantage of new technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and internet of things (IoT). At the same time, nearly half of them (43%) realized the need to rearchitect their IT infrastructure to ensure it supports 5G capabilities. With respect to Indian organizations’ three-year technology strategy, 5G network infrastructure is perceived as the most important (44%), followed by IoT applications (34%) and edge computing (32%).
Meanwhile, 65% of respondents in India said they expect increased spending on carrier-neutral colocation solutions, while 71% said they intend to increase investment in interconnection services to increase speed of connectivity and reduce latency (53%), increase flexibility of connectivity (51%) and improve network optimization (50%).
On the other hand, a number of potentially limiting factors were also identified by Indian IT decision makers when it came to business success, with cyber attacks highlighted as a particular area of concern (78%). In addition, 76% faced challenges in working with more complex digital supply chains and 76% specified the global supply chain issues and shortages as key threats to their business. These continued supply chain issues appear to be driving a need for more virtualization, with growth aspirations underpinned by significant planned investment in digital infrastructure.
Rick Villars, Group Vice President for Worldwide Research at IDC, said, “Even as enterprises seek to navigate the waves of disruptions associated with inflation, supply chain disruptions, and unmet skills needs that arose in the first half of 2022, IDC consistently hears from IT leaders that timely and expansive access to innovative technology, interconnectivity, and intelligent SaaS resources is critical. Companies like Equinix, that can speed access to needed facilities and connectivity options while also enabling more effective use of hybrid and multicloud services, will play a vital role in helping IT teams make sustainable technology investment decisions and take full advantage of SaaS and digital infrastructure.”
