Network Speed and Performance Key Differentiators for Enterprises

One of the most valuable lessons we’ve learned from the digital economy is that big data on its own is more of a cost than a benefit. The true value of big data can only be realized when you can derive insights from it and apply them to drive time-critical business decisions and meet consumer’s real-time performance expectations.

Companies are discovering that speed and performance have become the key differentiators across the marketplace, and that an effective cloud strategy can enable them to gain control over their data and take full advantage of the flexibility and elasticity hybrid cloud deployments deliver. Analytics based on big data can be extremely beneficial to banking, financial and retail organizations where time is of the essence in decision making and customer service can drive competitive advantage.

By deploying their IT infrastructure in close proximity to the cloud resources that support them, organizations can reduce latency and improve agility. Both enable a network to perform complex computing tasks and respond to customers much faster. While speed is essential to load time in the delivery of content and media, it’s equally important to enabling a customer to complete a desired action, and receive or render a response in a matter of milliseconds.

Low latency is now critical to any business, from retail to gaming to healthcare. In the financial world, contribution to the bottom line is measured in transactions processed per minute. Each transaction, whether it is a bankcard authorization, a stock trade, or even a customer checking an account balance, must process without errors in what appears to the end user to be real time, or from a network perspective, with near zero latency.

According to online research, instantaneous website response leads to maximum conversion rates, and every 1 second delay in page load decreases customer satisfaction by 16 percent, page views by 11 percent and conversion rates by 7 percent.

Inherent cost efficiencies exist in migrating to a cloud environment, which is why 82% % of enterprises want a multi-cloud strategy, with agility and performance appearing to be the greater drivers for cloud migration, particularly when it comes to launching new applications.

Big Data Calls for Revolution in IT
Due to our data-rich environment, enterprises, by default, are becoming data companies. So having the ability to quickly access, transfer, exchange and analyze big data can be a huge win for those who can manage it efficiently without causing disruption to their business or incurring new costs. Of course, doing this requires figuring out the right IT strategy to enable and drive the evolution of IT architecture along with progress. Three in four CIOs are looking to the cloud as a way to supplement and expand their IT infrastructure.

Many companies now require a mix pf physical data center space with public and private cloud connectivity from a provider who can meet their variable demands in scale, from cabs to megawatts and back, as well as offer the technical expertise to ensure the success of their cloud migration. In essence, a data center provider who can deliver on agility, performance and security, and support incremental future growth without limitation. Not an easy task, since traditionally, flexibility and agility have not been touted qualities of data centers.

Fortunately, data centers are evolving to deliver a more comprehensive mission-critical IT solution, including access to an ecosystem of service providers that can accommodate evolving enterprise needs for connectivity and high-performance computing as enterprises become ever more technologically dependent.

Introducing the Connected Campus
The Digital Realty Connected Campus provides a secure, high performance environment to meet variable demands for space, power and bandwidth, without imposing restrictions on business growth. By offering multiple facilities armed with scale, colocation and networking capabilities in close proximity to each other, plus local connections to on-campus cloud providers, we‘re able to deliver a comprehensive solution supporting the evolution of your IT environment.

If you want to future-proof your IT environment and ensure optimized network performance, consider making Digital Realty central to your hybrid cloud strategy. Explore how The Connected Campus can benefit you.