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Digital Realty’s Global Data Insights Survey Correlates with IDC Research to Illustrate the Importance of Data in Developing Business Strategy

May 26, 2022 | lcus49202522
Courtney Munroe

Courtney Munroe

Research Vice President, Worldwide Telecommunications Research - IDC

Product Type:
IDC: Blink
This Excerpt Features: Digital Realty

Executive Snapshot

In April, Digital Realty released its Global Data Insights Survey based on a survey of C-level executives, from around the world. The key insight of this survey is the prevalence of data management as a driving force for enterprise IT spending, and its correlation to the overall success and mission of multinational companies (MNCs.) This correlates with IDC research on the exponential growth of the data and the requirement of new strategies to efficiently manage and extract value of this key asset.

News Item

In April 2022, Digital Realty released its annual Global Data Insights Survey. It is a survey of 7,295 C- level executives, business, and technology leaders from 23 countries and nine industries globally. The goal is to provide some insight and dialogue into the business requirements, and the role of data in the enterprise. Most importantly the survey sought to unlock the costs, opportunities, and value of data in a digital-first organization. This survey comes on the heels of Digital Realty’s Data Gravity Index (DGx) report, that measures the intensity of Data Gravity and its effect on Global 2000 Enterprises.

Why this Matters

There is no doubt about the critical role of data for both consumers and business today. IDC estimates that beginning in 2020 data creation will grow by 25% per year to 180 Zettabytes by 2025. This correlates to one of the key findings of the Digital Realty survey that data is pervasive. Data is now a critical aspect of the business agenda and enterprises must establish a long-term strategy for aggregating, analyzing, and managing dataflows; this strategy is critical optimizing efficiency and financial success.

The importance of data requires a rethinking and long-term strategy that optimizes the IT infrastructure and places data in the context of extracting value. The survey found that with the exponential growth of data creation, and the prevalence of hybrid IT infrastructure and rich analytical capabilities are required to enrich data for consumption where it is needed: close to the customer. Hence the need for edge computing capabilities and a diverse but consistent distributed architecture for localized data.

According to the survey, 44% of companies of companies with $1B+ revenues now keep data decentralized for cost effective and faster processing, and with proximity to end users and devices. Most importantly, the Global Data Insights Survey shows that 75% of companies with at least $1B revenues have implemented a data-first strategy, leveraging a globally distributed network of co-location facilities to harvest insights for success.

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Audio Transcript

Digital Realty Trust released its second Data Gravity Index based on a survey of C-level executives from around the world.

The key insight of this survey is the prevalence of data management as a driving force for enterprise IT spending and its correlation to the overall success and mission of global multinational corporations.

This survey correlates with IDC research on the exponential growth of data, especially in the business realm, and the requirement for new strategies by businesses to efficiently manage and extract the value of this key asset.

The Data Gravity index is a survey of 7295 C-level executives and business and technology leaders from 23 countries and 9 industries globally.

The goal is to provide some insight and dialogue into the business requirements and role of data in the enterprise.

So why does this matter?

IDC estimates that between 2020 and 2025, data creation will grow by 25%, to 180 zettabytes by 2025.

This correlates with one of the key findings of Digital Realty survey — that data is pervasive.
Data is now a critical aspect of the business agenda, and enterprises must establish a long-term strategy

for aggregating, analyzing, and managing data flows.
That is critical to optimizing efficiency and financial success.

Hence the need for edge computing capabilities and a diverse but consistent distributed architecture for localized data.

According to the survey, 44% of companies with 1 billion plus in revenues now keep data decentralized for cost-effective and faster processing as well close proximity to end users and devices.

Most importantly, the Data Gravity survey shows that 75% of these companies have implemented a data-first strategy that includes leveraging a globally distributed network of colocation facilities to harvest insights for success.

In conclusion, a data-first data management strategy that optimizes your IT cloud and edge infrastructure is critical for success.

Digital Realty’s Global Data Insights Survey Correlates with IDC Research to Illustrate the Importance of Data in Developing Business Strategy