In March, the world was turned upside down from the moment the COVID-19 pandemic hit the headlines. The new situation took many organisations by surprise: the digital transformation, which had frequently been on the agenda for some time, now suddenly became a top priority, with connectivity one of the most important considerations. All the more so because making the right choice in the area of connectivity delivers lasting value.
Within a short period of time, office life stopped taking place between the office walls and was performed via all kinds of online channels. It was up to companies to support their employees as best they could in this new way of working. They also had to adapt the processes towards customers, suppliers and partners to the new circumstances. To do this, no fewer than 61 percent of SMEs have purchased software in recent months, according to a survey conducted by online marketplace supplier Capterra. Software that, according to those surveyed, was crucial to keep the business running during the crisis.
It has become clear in recent months that our economic prosperity is directly related to - and dependent on - digital technology. And more specifically: how we stay connected with each other. There are calls from some quarters for companies to take advantage of the current crisis to ‘reinvent themselves’. Many companies also thought it was high time to innovate, digitize, and take the long-considered step to the cloud. Although this acceleration is taking place by necessity and under huge pressure, companies that manage to turn these short-term solutions into a strong strategy can reap the benefits over the long term.
In a hurry
As the coronavirus slowly shut down society, companies had to go into second gear to come up with solutions to offer their products and services digitally. Things like personnel planning, project management and company training had to be arranged remotely. But digitizing business processes goes further than just using the right software for online meetings. It is about innovation and efficient collaboration with and between employees, as well as with customers, suppliers and partners. That means simplifying work processes, improving the cloud infrastructure and replacing the traditional ERP system with web or cloud-based software. Applications that are not web or cloud ready, run on the premises and are not easily accessible from outside are preferably replaced by one central platform that can be accessed easily from anywhere, but can also be managed remotely.
Creating lasting value
In response to the crisis and the challenges it poses, more and more companies are choosing to make the transition to a multicloud architecture. However, this in turn creates new concerns. What if, for example, the network becomes overloaded and this negatively affects performance and accessibility? And what about data security and compliance once IT environments spread across multiple clouds? The answer to all these questions is interconnection. No successful cloud migration without interconnection.
Direct and secure interconnection leads to an optimal multicloud strategy. To make this possible, Equinix has developed the platform Equinix Cloud Exchange Fabric (ECX FabricTM). The platform simplifies and accelerates the transition to a multicloud IT solution and establishes a fast, secure, dynamic and global connection between the various infrastructures and ecosystems.
With ECX Fabric, you can connect directly to all major cloud providers via a single port in minutes. Whether connecting to multiple public clouds or building a hybrid cloud, ECX Fabric makes the process simple with a self-serve portal and APIs. This has many advantages. Think of lower costs, improved performance and higher agility, security and scalability.
ECX Fabric can turn "forced innovation" into a long-term strategy that has lasting value. Data center operator LCL is now also making this Equinix interconnection solution available in Belgium and helping organizations gain access to this platform.
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