Simplifying IT Infrastructure to drive digital transformation

Technological development has become unstoppable now that the world is becoming quite used to digitization. We’ve seen during COVID-19 that businesses are all too dependent on the IT infrastructure to survive in such conditions. But the digital infrastructure is extremely complex. That is why 58% of digital leaders are working on simplifying this infrastructure to make their business more agile. (Equinix Global Tech Trends Survey 2020-21)

It has often been hard for digital leaders to acquire funds for digital transformation. Usually, 80% of funds are spent on maintaining existing infrastructure. For this reason, funding for digital transformation has become scarce as it is hard to calculate metrics like ROI on an organizational level. In addition, the results of digital transformation can only be seen after adoption, which has a cost.

But in 2022, digital transformation has become a requirement for business growth. Let’s see why!

Why is digital transformation required?

After the pandemic, many industries adopted Industry 4.0 in their business operations. Many industries have become digitized, using cloud networks and advanced technologies to conduct work processes. The future shows us a primarily digital world. To succeed in the future, businesses must be able to keep up with technological evolution.

Here are some reasons why digital transformation has become important-

Infrastructure clutter-

Like humans that collect clutter over time, IT infrastructure also collects a lot of clutter. This clutter slows down the daily operations. For this reason, organizations need to declutter their IT infrastructure regularly. But the process is too complex and takes too long. Hence, many businesses avoid it till it becomes an issue. Simplifying the infrastructure is going to reduce infrastructure clutter.

Increased complexity of cloud-

The introduction of cloud services brought excitement to individuals and businesses alike. There was no need to worry about low storage anymore. Instead, you could upload the data to the cloud, access them whenever and wherever you need them, delete them, and stop paying for the service.

But as the service became popular, it became more complex. The threat of cyberattacks on clouds makes it hard for an organization to store essential data. Simplifying cloud networks is another big reason why digital transformation has become prominent.

Security-

As mentioned in the previous para, cloud-based services are prone to cyber-attacks. In addition, with many employees working from the, cyber threats increase even more. Digital transformation can improve the security of the IT infrastructure. The shift is bound to introduce zero-trust security models in the infrastructures. Zero-trust security is a high-end security model that maintains strict access controls.

Hyperautomation-

Various industries are quickly moving towards hyper-automation. Research by Deloitte has shown that 93% of businesses are planning to introduce RPA by 2023. But the current IT infrastructure is not fit to keep up with automation to a large extent. Digital transformation can enable businesses to automate their functions with RPA, Low-code/ No-code adoption of advanced technologies.

Incorporation of 5G-

How does simplifying IT infrastructure in driving digital transformation?

Reducing the complexities of the infrastructure can make it more agile and helps businesses keep up with changing technology. This is because digital innovations can easily take a clean IT landscape. Here’s how you can simplify the IT landscape-

Increasing flexibility-

More than half of the global workforce has worked remotely since the pandemic. This sudden change in the work process introduced many challenges- like connectivity issues, lack of security, and proper hardware. Still, businesses worked hard to overcome these challenges and created a much more flexible workspace for the employees. This has made companies more agile and adaptable.

Hence, they can move forward with more digital transformations. Businesses can also use hyper-converged platforms to simplify operations and scale IT infrastructure.

Connecting with XaaS providers-

Anything as a service, better known as XaaS, refers to a service model that goes a step beyond the traditional cloud service model. The XaaS model provides various other services like-

Storage as a Service (STaaS)
Containers as a Service (CaaS)
Function as a Service (FaaS)
Security as a Service (SECaaS)
Unified Communication as a Service (UCaaS)
Video as a Service (VaaS)

These services can reduce the need to buy separate services from providers. Instead, you connect with a single XaaS provider, and it will take care of multiple needs, leaving more space in the IT landscape.

Data Center modernization

Data is regularly collected, stored, and processed by businesses. This data is constantly at the risk of getting lost or hacked. To increase data security, companies must keep their infrastructure up to date. And data center modernization can help organizations keep their data secure and automate the process.

Data centers can reduce total operational costs by 28% with the help of automated performance management and proactive planning.

Conclusion

Digital transformation is heavily dependent upon IT infrastructure. But the complexity of IT poses a huge challenge in moving forward digitally. It has become crucial for businesses to simplify their infrastructure to stay afloat in the future.