US Signal’s ‘2020 State of Data Center Offerings’ Survey Reveals Security, Disaster Recovery and Network Availability are Top Priorities for Companies when Choosing a Data Center Provider
February 11, 2020US Signal today released its ‘2020 State of Data
Center Offerings’ survey. The study, which consisted of data derived from 110
U.S.-based IT decision-makers, revealed that security and compliance, backup
and disaster recovery, and network availability are the top factors for the
majority of surveyed companies when choosing a third-party edge data center
provider.
Fifty-eight percent of respondents named security and compliance as a high
priority when choosing a data center provider, and 31 percent listed them as
their top priority. This shows that the recent introduction of major data
compliance regulations such as CCPA and GDPR, coupled with the fact that
ransomware attacks are increasing (38 percent of respondents had been impacted
by a ransomware attack in the last twelve months), are causing companies to
turn to data center providers for increasing support around cybersecurity and
compliance management.
Forty-two percent of respondents stated that disaster recovery and backup
availability was also a key consideration when choosing an edge data center
provider, placing this second behind security. While three-quarters stated that
they are currently utilizing backup and disaster recovery from a third-party
edge data center provider, more than half (54 percent) said that they are somewhat
or not very confident in their disaster recovery and backup solution in the
event of an incident, such as a cyberattack, an IT outage or a natural
disaster.
The survey went on to show that a substantial 91 percent of respondents were
likely to select a data center provider that was located close to their users.
This was supported by 46 percent of respondents stating that they prioritize
network capacity and connectivity options when choosing a provider, with 15
percent naming it their number one priority. These findings emphasize that data
center proximity and the strength of network connectivity are of the utmost
importance to business success due to the hosting of latency-sensitive
applications at the edge. Importantly, nearly half of respondents also factored
in cost as a top consideration across the board.
Sixty-six percent of respondents described their current infrastructure
deployment as a hybrid IT architecture, while only 34 percent of respondents
did not currently have a hybrid IT infrastructure deployed. More specifically,
20 percent stated that their infrastructure was entirely cloud-based, and 14
percent said it was all on premise.
Interestingly, despite common knowledge of the IT skills gap in 2020, the
majority of respondents (86 percent) felt that they have sufficient resources
to handle their daily data center operations. The findings reveal, however,
that these organizations are increasingly turning to their data center
providers to assist them with additional services beyond the day-to-day to
maximize their return on investment (ROI). The study showed that 34 percent
started utilizing the services offered from their third-party edge data center
provider within the last six months, and 11 percent of the total respondents
initiated these services within the last two weeks, indicating rapid adoption.
Overall, the top services respondents are using can be ranked as follows:
- Backup and disaster recovery (75 percent)
- Security services (73 percent)
- Network connectivity (69 percent)
- Private cloud hosting (59 percent)
- Multi-tenant cloud hosting (56 percent)
- Colocation (39 percent)
“As more industries are becoming data-driven, the need to meet data compliance
and connectivity demands increases,” said Dave Wisz, executive vice president
of Operations, US Signal. “The recent introduction of major data regulations
signal a change in the way governments are viewing data management, and this is
causing companies to better equip themselves by seeking the services of
third-party data center providers. This, coupled with the consumer demand for
easy and quick access to data, is causing the required offerings from data
center providers to evolve in ways that ease the burden of security,
connectivity, data protection and compliance for customers. While the survey
showed a clear rise in companies utilizing their data center providers’
services, we hope that the providers themselves can use these findings to
enhance their offerings and ensure that they are meeting the needs of today’s
businesses.”
To view the full 2020 State of Data Center Offerings survey findings, visit: https://ussignal.com/data-center-survey-2020