Data control and the housing of data are both critically important in the digital transformation economy. However, 60% of Nordic decision makers cannot say for sure where or even in which country their data resides. DigiPlex and IDC Nordic are, in this unique Executive Brief, addressing this critical knowledge gap and answering five questions to help businesses stay ahead in the digital transformation race.

65% of European CEOs are under digital pressure

The comprehensive Executive Brief from IDC Nordic, in collaboration with DigiPlex, confirms that the digital transformation has implications for all organisations. Products, services and markets are transforming, and according to IDC, 65% of European CEOs are under pressure to deliver a successful digital transformation strategy to become a truly digital enterprise and to comply with local legislation. Digital infrastructure, including the housing of data, is a critical component of this pressure.

“To be a successful digital player you need to know where and how your data is stored, in order to control your assets, comply with legislation and protect your brand. We are seeing increased concern over the digital environmental footprint, as well as physical protection as part of GDPR compliance and connected to risks like extreme weather or cyberattacks. These are only two of multiple key data centre factors businesses need to take into account”, says Gisle M. Eckhoff, CEO DigiPlex.

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Are you trapped in a digital deadlock?

At the same time, 55% of Nordic businesses, like most other organisations all over the world, are trapped in what could be called `digital deadlock’. The challenge for these businesses is to make the leap to become a digital transformer, by starting to employ digital solutions to optimise and organise the business. This is something that requires a robust digital infrastructure.

“Data centres are a growing business concern and the process of preparing the five questions has given me new insights into the important role of the data centre in digital transformation. Most importantly among these are, the issue of energy efficiency, how data centre service providers address power consumption, and the growing role of latency in digital. Location of data centres is on the agenda in the data driven economy”, says Jan Horsager, Research Director IDC Nordic.

Data centres are one of the foundations for successful digital transformation, and advanced levels of digitisation place the highest demands on safe and secure data housing. The right data centre is a key enabler of successful digitisation in which business processes are data driven, and where the production, computing and use of data occurs seamlessly and immediately.

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IDC Predicts that:

• During 2020 a majority of Nordic enterprises will have initiated projects to identify in which geography and in which data centre their critical data resides.
• Security breaches in 2019 will cause substantial brand value damage to more than 10 Nordic publicly listed companies, resulting in penalties and loss of revenue in excess of €1 billion.
• The energy discussion will move to the top of the agenda, as big new data centres or hyperscalers are built in the Nordics and the public realise how much energy a data centre requires.
• Significant buildout in the Nordics beyond 2020 as data centres need to be located closer to users to reduce latency in data traffic as cloud transformation and IoT progress.
• In 2019, 80% of enterprises’ new digital services will need to be housed in dedicated cloud or colocation facilities.

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