IT concept: driving forward the digitization of companies in 2021

New year, new server concept? Cloud computing continues to be an upward trend and helps IT service providers to meet the demands for digitizing companies of today and tomorrow. What will the ideal IT infrastructure look like in 2021 and what role will the cloud play?

Lifestyle magazines have known it for a long time: a new year is a good opportunity to rid oneself of old burdens and improve. This is also true in the ICT sector, and IT service providers should ask themselves when planning the coming year which server model will enable them to best serve their customers in the future. According to a study by IMD, this is also urgently necessary. Switzerland recently fell out of the top 5 in terms of digital competitiveness.

______
These five requirements should be met by your IT infrastructure in 2021
______

Here is a checklist of what the ideal IT infrastructure 2021 for the digitization of companies requires:

Cost efficiency: A good price-performance ratio, cost savings and the elimination of high investment costs are often among the main reasons why cost-conscious companies decide against on-premise servers and in favour of cloud migrations. With the purchase of cloud services in the pay-as-you-go model, IT service providers only pay for resources that are actually used. Instead of stockpiling performance in their own server room and having little leeway for expansion, they obtain precisely tailored cloud services from an external provider.

⌧Stability: It is not only since the outbreak of the pandemic that more and more employers are offering their employees the option of home office or remote work. According to the Federal Statistical Office, the number of employees who work at least occasionally in a home office had already more than quadrupled between 2001 and 2018. In order for work at home or at a workplace of one's own choosing to function smoothly, it must be possible to access applications at any time, from anywhere and with multiple end devices. With a cloud-based infrastructure, companies become more flexible and can provide the best possible working environment for their employees. Stability combined with high flexibility is an even more important selling point for IT service providers this year than ever before.

⌧Scalability: In the restructuring phase following the Covid crisis, it is central that the IT environment can be expanded or adapted in the shortest possible time. Sourcing cloud services from a reliable partner enables IT resellers to expand the portfolio without investment costs. Thus, after winning new customers and projects, it is no longer necessary to purchase additional hardware and stockpile performance for peak times.

Cloud service providers such as Xelon provide IT service providers with scalable, flexible and cost-effective IT infrastructures that can be used to deliver a tailored IT environment to the end customer. According to market research firm Gartner, cloud computing is expected to continue to grow and, according to a senior Gartner researcher, the cloud "delivered on all promises" during the COVID crisis.

In contrast to operating their own servers, IT service providers who purchase cloud services do not have to build up hardware that has to be replaced every five to seven years. The cloud-based infrastructure grows with the end customer and can be adapted as needed at the click of a mouse. In addition, there is no need for regular hardware revisions and the permanent need to ensure the correct physical conditions for server rooms, such as air conditioning and ventilation. This leaves more time for developing new offerings for today's and tomorrow's customers. This strengthens customer loyalty, enables up- or cross-selling and helps in the acquisition of new customers.

For more insights into 2021 IT infrastructure trends, click here.