Equinix Study: 69% of Digital Leaders in Finland Expect Long-term Changes to Where and How People Work

HELSINKI, Finland – May 11, 2021 – Equinix, Inc. (Nasdaq: EQIX), the world's digital infrastructure company™, today announced the findings of its annual global study of the views of IT decision-makers on the biggest technology trends affecting businesses worldwide and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on digital infrastructure plans.

Surveying 2,600 IT decision-makers from diverse enterprises across 26 countries in the Americas, Asia-Pacific and EMEA regions, the study reveals that in Finland: 

• 69% of digital leaders in Finland believe there will be long-term changes to where and how people work within their organization
• 32% of businesses in Finland have rearchitected their IT infrastructure to meet new remote and hybrid working demands, with tech budgets increasing to accelerate digital transformation
• 26% of organizations in Finland say that they are currently expanding to new regions, countries or metros (compared to 43% before COVID-19). Globally more than half (57%) of companies still intend to expand into new regions despite the disruption experienced as a result of COVID-19

Digital transformation in the post-pandemic future

Digitization and business investment in digital infrastructure have increased as a result of COVID-19. 31% of the digital leaders surveyed in Finland said they have accelerated digital transformation plans because of the pandemic, while 18% said their budgets have been increased to satisfy the rapid growth in digital demands.

There has also been a major overhaul of IT strategies to meet the challenges emerging from the pandemic. Almost half (45%) of IT leaders in Finland said they have revised their IT strategy as a result of COVID-19, while 41% said they want to invest in technology to be more agile post-COVID.

Asked about their biggest priorities for their organization’s digital strategy, 81% of respondents in Finland reported digitizing their IT infrastructure was among the top priorities. Three in 10 IT decision-makers in Finland agree that avoiding the public internet is crucial for the daily function of business and that interconnection can help them gain competitive advantages. 

Concerns that the pandemic will have put the brakes on companies’ expansion plans globally lessened

• On a global scale, 57% of businesses still have plans to expand into new regions, countries or metros, according to the digital leaders surveyed. One in four (26%) IT-leaders in Finland state the same.  

• Of that 26%, more than two-thirds (69%) plan to achieve this virtually, rather than by investing in physical IT infrastructure in-market.

Utilizing interconnection for success

• 58% of IT leaders globally said they believe interconnection—the direct and private exchange of data between organizations—will help them to navigate the challenges they face due to COVID-19.
• Those stating interconnection was key to their organization’s survival increased to 50%, up from 45% last year.

 

Sami Holopainen, Managing Director, Equinix Finland, said: “The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the digitalization of businesses on a scale no one could predict. According to Equinix’s study, a majority (81%) of IT leaders in Finland said that digitizing their IT infrastructure is a top priority in their technology strategy (up from 51% last year), and 69% state they anticipate that more people will work remotely post-COVID-19, and are planning on long-term changes to their IT. As a result, many companies are now prioritizing investment in digital infrastructure in order to thrive in the new world.”

“This increasing focus on digitization and expansion is one of the reasons why Equinix has continued to invest in its own growth. In Finland we recently invested €32 million in data center expansions. On a global scale, Equinix completed 16 new expansions in 2020—our most active build year ever.”

The Global Interconnection Index (GXI) Volume 4, a market study recently published by Equinix, forecasts that overall interconnection bandwidth—the measure of private connectivity for the transfer of data between organizations—will achieve a 45% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) from 2019 to 2023, in the EMEA region. The expected growth is driven by digital transformation, and specifically by greater demands from enterprises extending their digital infrastructure from centralized locations to distributed edge locations.

To read more about the Global Tech Trends Survey, or download a copy, please visit: https://www.equinix.com/resources/infopapers/equinix-tech-trends-survey

 

Additional Quotes

• Eugene Bergen Henegouwen, President, EMEA, Equinix:

“As digital leaders around the world are focused on digitizing their organizations to respond to the challenges created by the pandemic, it’s clear from this study that interconnection is very important to this transformation. The fact that over half of IT decision-makers in EMEA said interconnection will help them to navigate the challenges faced as a result of COVID-19, with almost half believing it to be key to their organization’s survival, shows interconnection has become business-critical to many enterprises, and we believe it will continue to be so as we recover and rebuild following this terrible pandemic.”

 

About the Study

The independent study, commissioned by Equinix, surveyed 2,600 IT decision-makers in diverse enterprises across the Americas (Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Mexico, U.S.), Asia-Pacific (Australia, China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Singapore) and EMEA (Bulgaria, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, UAE, UK). Respondents were selected for participation from Dynata’s online panel. The survey was conducted online between December 17, 2020 and January 8, 2021.

 

About Equinix

Equinix (Nasdaq: EQIX) is the world’s digital infrastructure company, enabling digital leaders to harness a trusted platform to bring together and interconnect the foundational infrastructure that powers their success. Equinix enables today’s businesses to access all the right places, partners and possibilities they need to accelerate advantage. With Equinix, they can scale with agility, speed the launch of digital services, deliver world-class experiences and multiply their value.

 

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from expectations discussed in such forward-looking statements. Factors that might cause such differences include, but are not limited to, the challenges of acquiring, operating and constructing IBX data centers and developing, deploying and delivering Equinix products and solutions, unanticipated costs or difficulties relating to the integration of companies we have acquired or will acquire into Equinix; a failure to receive significant revenues from customers in recently built out or acquired data centers; a failure to complete any financing arrangements contemplated from time to time; competition from existing and new competitors; the ability to generate sufficient cash flow or otherwise obtain funds to repay new or outstanding indebtedness; the loss or decline in business from our key customers; risks related to our taxation as a REIT; and other risks described from time to time in Equinix filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In particular, see recent Equinix quarterly and annual reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, copies of which are available upon request from Equinix. Equinix does not assume any obligation to update the forward-looking information contained in this press release.

 

# # #

Media contacts

Jess Sullivan (EMEA)
+44 7876 712861
Jess.Sullivan@eu.equinix.com

Juhani Lassila, Lataamo / Johnny L (local contact)
+ 358 40 541 2365
juhani@johnnyl.fi

 

Investor Relations
Katrina Rymill
+1 (650) 598-6583
krymill@equinix.com

Chip Newcom
+1 (650) 598-6262
cnewcom@equinix.com