Australian businesses are planning major investments in digital technologies. The Equinix global tech trends survey reveals businesses are bullish about their plans.
Of the 2,900 IT decision-makers surveyed globally in the Equinix 2022 Global Tech Trends Survey, 72% of Australian respondents indicated their organisation is planning to expand into new markets in the next 12 months.
Over half of Australia’s IT Executives (56%) are accelerating their organisation’s digital transformation because of the COVID-19 crisis.
Indeed, 53% confirmed their IT budgets have increased. Furthermore, 61% believed the technology changes and investments during the pandemic are here to stay.
72% of Australian Businesses Plan to Expand into New Markets in the Next 12 Months
There are obstacles to Digitisation
A majority of respondents (74%) were concerned by security and data breaches and changing regulatory requirements around data privacy. Further, 71% were also concerned about cyber-attacks on their organisation.
Despite those threats, 80% said they intend to keep or increase investment in interconnection services to progress digital transformation and build resilience.
Also read: Digital Transformation may have increased complexity, finds Pega survey
Key Findings From The Survey In Australia:
Customer and employee experience prioritised:
- 79% said enhancing customer experience was a priority.
- 76% acknowledged improving the employee experience is critical to their transformation journey and retention of talent.
Talent shortages, supply chain challenges and hybrid work model are driving more virtualisation
Cloud migration continues:
- 75% of IT leaders said they plan to move more business functions to the cloud.
- Of those respondents, half plan to move more of their business-critical applications, and more than half (55%) intend to move security functions to the cloud.
Related read: Cloud Is The Centrepiece of New Digital Experiences
Investing in innovation:
- Many IT leaders are looking to futureproof their businesses and take full advantage of evolving technologies, such as 5G, the internet of things (IoT), and Web3.
- 69% of respondents said they are moving to an everything as a service (XaaS) model, citing the simplification of IT infrastructure (67%), improved user experience (52%) and flexibility (45%) as the key reasons for doing so.
Focusing on sustainability:
- While innovating, digital leaders are keeping a close eye on the sustainability of their IT infrastructure.
- 74% say they have a plan in place to manage the environmental impact of growing data usage and 61% are measuring and actively trying to limit the environmental impact of their IT equipment.
- 65% will only work with IT partners who can meet key carbon reduction targets. Indeed, 68% report sustainability is now one of their organisation’s most important drivers with commitments made to science-based targets.
