Investments in digital infrastructure on the increase, but not risk awareness

For the fifth consecutive year, Coromatic today presented the result of its survey of attitudes among managers of data centers and other mission-critical infrastructure concerning security priorities and risk management. Although those responsible say that operational stoppages are more devastating than ever before and rapidly result in very negative consequences for companies, risk analysis of the digital infrastructure is an area to which management assigns neither priority or resources, according to the survey. At the same time, overall investments in infrastructure are on the increase.

Enormous business risk

– The fact that management is ignoring the enormous business risks that are caused by disruptions in the digital infrastructure does not represent a responsible approach to customers, employees, shareholders or society at large. I want to send a powerful signal to the management of Swedish companies that they must listen to the insights they are being given by those responsible for their digital infrastructure, and then work strategically to increase control, says Göran Egnell, senior security expert and head of advisory services at Coromatic.

Of those managers responsible for data centers and other critical infrastructure, one in three stated that disruptions would put the company’s entire operations at risk and nearly one in two stated that it would have a highly significant impact on the company’s business. Overall, a very large majority of nearly 80 percent chose one of the alternatives. The amount of time in which the company would survive downtime is becoming ever shorter, with 19 percent unable to operate their business for a single second without access to their infrastructure (compared with 16 percent last year) and for 60 percent, the critical limit is minutes or about an hour.

In contrast to this, managers responsible for data centers and similar infrastructure are not receiving the resources they require to conduct risk analyses. A full 30 percent stated that this is the largest obstacle to the implementation of these strategically key analyses, followed by 20 percent who believe that their management does not assign priority to the matter.

– Compared with earlier years when we have conducted the same survey, we can see an increase in those who believe that disruptions would risk all or parts of the operations and the time for which a company can continue its operations is constantly shrinking. Naturally, this can be attributed to speed and availability becoming increasingly important all the time as digitalization continues. This should be sufficient to impress upon highest management that they need to prioritize the matter, says Göran Egnell.

Investments will increase in the next two years

At the same time, the survey shows that investments in data centers and other mission-critical digital infrastructure will increase in the next two years. A full 57 percent state that they will increase their investments by 5-15 percent or more compared with 29 percent, who will have a similar investment budget to the one they have today. The factors driving investment in infrastructure can be divided into three areas of equal size: performance improvements, cost reduction and risk minimization. Surprisingly, only 6 percent stated sustainability as the primary driving force behind investments and this area is described as one of several significant factors when decisions on new investments are to be made. Only 3 percent stated that this was decisive.

About the survey

The online survey was conducted in partnership with the research company Mistat between May and June 2019. More than 260 managers for data centers and other mission-critical infrastructure at large and medium-sized companies in all industries across the Nordics responded. The respondents had managerial positions in sectors including IT, property management and finance.

For more information, contact:
Göran Egnell, Head of Advisory at Coromatic
Tel: +46 708 54 52 72
goran.egnell@coromatic.com

Om Coromatic

Coromatic säkrar tillgång till kraftförsörjning och datakommunikation för verksamhetskritiska anläggningar. Vi tillhandahåller hög tillgänglighet och produktivitet för våra kunder, vi räddar liv genom oavbruten drift 24/7, och optimerar energianvändningen för minsta möjliga miljöpåverkan.

Företagets kunder finns inom en mängd olika branscher som exempelvis bank och finans, sjukvården, försvaret och många andra organisationer där tillgång till kraftförsörjning och datakommunikation är avgörande.  Coromatic erbjuder rådgivning, underhåll och service. Vi designar, bygger och driver våra kunders tekniska infrastruktur med fokus på energieffektivitet.

Coromatic har mer än 500 anställda och har levererat lösningar och tjänster till mer än 5000 företag i Norden. Coromatic är en del av E.ON koncernen.