Anxiety impacts European IT managers when planning data centre infrastructure strategy - Europe's IT managers are so anxious about the complexity ...
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Anxiety impacts European IT managers when planning data centre infrastructure strategy Europe’s IT managers are so anxious about the complexity of data centre planning that their work suffers
Executive Summary
Opinion Matters conducted a survey of 700 European IT/data
centre managers on behalf of Colt in July 2014.
The survey showed that the need for more data storage has increased over the last year and
is predicted to grow again in the next 12 months. More than three quarters of respondents
said their data centre capacity requirement has grown in the last year and 30 per cent said
they expect it to increase in the next 12 months.
The pressure is on. As IT managers work to keep pace with the rate of change, the survey
sought to uncover the impact that the task of sourcing and managing this capacity has
on them.
The survey found that security issues and the complexity of the planning process make
almost all respondents (90 per cent) feel anxious to the extent that their work is affected.
IT managers feel their work takes longer than it should, that they worry more than they
should and that they feel less productive. This is ‘planning anxiety’.
2Key findings
Europe’s IT managers Security is the source of stress
Anxiety is rife • Security is considered the most important area of
• 90 per cent of IT managers feel so anxious about data data centre planning (64 per cent) and is the risk that
centre planning that it impacts their work. most respondents are concerned about (36 per cent).
• Overall, 54 per cent feel that their anxiety makes them • The top security concern for British and German IT
spend more time on data centre strategy planning managers is viruses/network (with external hacks),
than they should; 22 per cent feel they worry about it while for the Belgian, French and Swiss respondents,
more than they should; and 19 per cent feel it makes it is external hacks. Meanwhile, Danes are most
them less productive. concerned about physical access/fraud and the Dutch
about human error.
The curse of complexity
• 70 per cent are concerned about the complexity of Most IT managers are confident in colocation:
data centre planning. planning stage is over
• A ‘confidence paradox’ was revealed in that the vast
• More than two thirds (69 per cent) of data centre majority (79 per cent) are confident (quite or very)
managers have had problems with data centre that their colocation strategy will meet their business
supplier contracts. In Switzerland, this figure rises to needs, despite their anxiety.
93 per cent, the highest of any country. The country
whose IT managers are least afflicted by supplier • However, this still means that 21 per cent are not
contract issues is the Netherlands (43 per cent). confident in their colocation strategy.
• Overall, inflexible delivery is the most commonly • Germany (93 per cent) and the UK (90 per cent) are
reported problem (28 per cent), followed by inflexible the most confident regions; Switzerland (61 per cent)
location (26 per cent), poor service level agreements is the least confident.
(25 per cent), inflexible capacity (ability to scale up/
down, 24 per cent), length of term (18 per cent) and
inflexible range of services (15 per cent).
3What is ‘planning anxiety’?
This survey has confirmed the existence of planning anxiety and uncovered the extent of the
problem and the impact it has on IT managers’ jobs.
Planning anxiety is a significant and disruptive condition that afflicts IT managers
responsible for data centre strategy. It can mean they struggle to cope with the complexity
and pressure of making the right decision on how and where to store their data to mitigate
risk as much as possible.
How does the anxiety you feel around data centre planning impact your job?
80
60
40
20
0
Belgium
Denmark
France
Germany
The Netherlands
Switzerland
UK
I feel I spend more time on this than I should do I feel I am less productive
I feel that I worry about this more than I should do I don't feel it has any impact on other areas of my job
4An in-depth look
The pressure is on Complexity
Pressure is on those responsible for data centre Data centre strategy planning is complex
planning. Most (77 per cent) European data centre 70 per cent of respondents feel that planning for the
managers report that their data capacity increased future is complex (quite or extremely) with German
in the past year and almost the same number (70 per respondents (83 per cent), French (77 per cent)
cent) predict growth during the next 12 months. and Swiss (74 per cent) the top three by country for
complexity.
Anxiety
All of these causes for concern have an inevitable Dutch IT managers, on the other hand, stand out for
consequence. The majority (56 per cent) of European smoother operations – 50 per cent of Dutch respondents
data centre managers suffer from planning anxiety. (more than any other country) say their colocation
The Swiss IT managers are most anxious: 77 per strategy is “not very complex” while just 41 per cent half
cent are very or quite anxious, and no-one from the the figure for Germany – find planning complex.
country reported being not anxious at all (the only
country not to do so). Complexity constrains expansion
This complexity can make it difficult for data centre
The highest numbers of respondents reporting that managers to expand their operations. Around one third
they are “very anxious” are from Switzerland (12 per of respondents have faced significant challenges with
cent), Germany (11 per cent), France (10 per cent), the regulations and technical migration in expanding data
UK and Denmark (8 per cent), Belgium (5 per cent) and centre requirements abroad.
the Netherlands (2 per cent).
By country, for those respondents who have attempted
The respondents overwhelmingly reported that this to expand, the top difficulties are:
data centre planning anxiety has a direct impact on
their work (90 per cent). Overall, 54 per cent feel that • For Belgian, Danish, French and German IT managers:
their anxiety makes them spend more time on data Restrictive/unfamiliar legislation.
centre strategy planning than they should, 22 per cent • For Dutch and British IT managers: Lack of familiarity
feel they worry about it more than they should and 19 with local markets.
per cent feel it makes them less productive. • For Swiss IT managers: Poor connectivity across
borders.
German respondents feel the impact most keenly
(98 per cent), followed by the French (97 per cent), the
Danes (93 per cent) and the British (91 per cent). The
impact of planning anxiety is less for the Dutch: just
66 per cent feel there’s an impact on their work, while
78 per cent of Belgian IT managers raised this.
5By how much has your data centre capacity (power, space, equipment) requirement grown
in the past year?
50
40
30
20
10
0
Belgium
Denmark
France
Germany
The Netherlands
Switzerland
UK
1–20% 76–100%
21–30% It has remained constant
31–50% It has reduced
51–75% I don’t know
What percentage growth are you expecting in the next 12 months?
40
30
20
10
0
Belgium
Denmark
France
Germany
The Netherlands
Switzerland
UK
1–20% 76–100%
21–30% Not expecting growth
31–50% We are expecting a reduction
51–75% I don’t know
6How anxious does choosing the right data centre strategy or plan make you?
8%
48%
37%
6%
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Very anxious Not that anxious
Quite anxious Not at all anxious
What difficulties have you faced in expanding your data centre requirements abroad?
7How do you feel about the complexity of planning for the future?
80
80
60
60
40
40
20
20
0
Belgium
Denmark
France
Germany
The Netherlands
Switzerland
UK
0
Belgium
Denmark
France
Germany
The Netherlands
Switzerland
UK
1 it is extremely complex 3 it is not very complex
2 it is quite complex 4 it is not at all complex
1 it is extremely complex 3 it is not very complex
Supplier2 contract
it is quite issues exacerbate complexity
complex 4 it is not at all complex
More than two thirds (69 per cent) of data centre managers have had problems with their supplier contracts. In
Switzerland, this figure rises to 93 per cent, the highest of any country. The country whose IT managers are least
afflicted by supplier contract issues is the Netherlands (43 per cent).
Overall, inflexible delivery is the most commonly reported problem (28 per cent), followed by inflexible location
(26 per cent), poor service level agreements (25 per cent), inflexible capacity (ability to scale up/down, 24 per
cent), length of term (18 per cent) and inflexible range of services (15 per cent).
There are some regional differences among those who report problems: for Swiss IT managers, the top issue was
inflexible delivery; for Dutch and Danish IT managers, there was an equal split between inflexible delivery and
inflexible location. Inflexible location was the top issue for IT managers in the UK while inflexible capacity (inability to
scale up or down) has been an issue for respondents in Belgium, France and the Netherlands.
In what areas have you experienced issues with your contracts with suppliers?
60
40
20
Belgium
Switzerland
Denmark
France
Germany
UK
The Netherlands
I have not experienced issues with my contracts and suppliers
Inflexible delivery
Inflexible location
Poor SLAs
Inflexible capacity (ability to scale up/down)
Length of term
Inflexible range of services
Other, please specify
8Security
What areas are of most importance when you are planning your data centre (DC) strategy?
64%
64%
33%
33%
30%
30%
25%
25%
24%
24%
23%
23%
20%
20%
14%
14%
1%
1%
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Security Space
Security Space
Cloud providers Disaster recovery
Cloud providers Disaster recovery
Power Add-on services (i.e. data backup, managed storage, managed security services)
Power Add-on services (i.e. data backup, managed storage, managed security services)
Location Other, please specify
Location Other, please specify
Carrier providers
Carrier providers
Security features highly among IT managers across the • Security is the risk most respondents are concerned
board. It is: about at 36 per cent. More than twice as many
respondents are concerned about security than the
• For 64 per cent, the most important area of data next-ranked risks, service availability and operational
centre strategy. Nearly twice as many respondents quality (14 per cent each). Security is by far the risk all
report security as do for their next most important nationalities are most concerned about, with the
concern, cloud providers (33 per cent). exception of Denmark, which ranks service availability
It is the most important area for respondents in all highest (23 per cent).
countries surveyed, with the exception of the Danish
IT managers, who instead rate cloud providers as the German IT managers again demonstrate that
most important area. security is their priority, with 54 per cent of German
respondents – the most from any country – reporting
Security is by far the most important area for Belgian that security is the risk they are most concerned about.
(68 per cent), French (82 per cent), Dutch (69 per
cent) and British (60 per cent) IT managers, while By comparison, other concerns are data protection/
for German IT managers (72 per cent), power ranks a regulations (9 per cent), capacity (8 per cent),
close second (59 per cent). Danish and Swiss decision- data location and data security (5 per cent), carrier
makers have less marked differences between the availability (5 per cent), location (4 per cent) and site
areas, which also include location, carrier providers, resilience (3 per cent).
space, disaster recovery and add-on services.
• Security along with reliability, is the highest rated
element that respondents’ data centre efforts need
to support the business objectives in the next two
years at 52 per cent. Security is of particular
importance to supporting business objectives for
German IT managers: 70 per cent of German
respondents stated this versus the mean 52 per cent.
It is also the most important element for Danish and
French IT managers. Reliability is top for Belgian,
Dutch and British (jointly with flexibility) IT managers
while risk mitigation is top for the Swiss.
9• At 44 per cent, rising to 63 per cent in Germany,
security is the most reported barrier to change. This
makes security an even greater barrier than cost,
inconvenience, contract length and regulations.
Again, German IT managers are concerned about
security, this time as a barrier to change. Although
they represent the only country to rank security
first, they do so with such a large margin as to make
security the average (mean) top result across all
the nationalities surveyed. This is despite all others
selecting something different. For Belgian, French,
Dutch and British IT managers, the top barrier is cost
while the Danes and Swiss are most hampered by
internal resources (or lack thereof).
So which specific elements under the broad umbrella
of security are of the greatest concern? Here we see
the greatest regional variations of any question in the
survey.
What key elements do your data centre operations need to support the business objectives
in the next two years?
100
50
0
The Netherlands
Belgium
Denmark
France
Germany
Switzerland
UK
Reliability
Security
Flexibility
Risk mitigation
Technology migration
Capacity on demand
Disaster recovery
I don’t think our data centre operations need anything to support the business objectives in the next two years
Geographical location to the business
Other, please specify
10What risk are you most concerned about?
36%
14%
14%
9%
8%
5%
5%
4%
3%
1%
0 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
Security Data location and data security
Service availability Carrier availability
Operational quality Location
Data protection/regulations Site resilience
Capacity Other, please specify
The top concern for British and German (with external
hacks) IT managers is viruses/network, while for the
Belgian, French and Swiss respondents, it is external
hacks. Meanwhile, Danes are most concerned about
physical access/fraud and the Dutch about human error.
Overall, viruses and network attacks (25 per cent) and
external hacks (24 per cent) are the greatest concerns;
acts of God (fire, flood, earthquakes, etc) are not
considered a threat to most (just 4 per cent)
What concerns you most about security?
60
40
20
0
Viruses / network IT platform devices
External hacks Threats posed by location (e.g. near potential terrorist targets)
Human error Acts of God (fire / flood / storm)
Physical access threats/fraud Other, please specify
11Confidence Paradox
The survey revealed a ‘confidence paradox’. Despite
their planning anxiety and its impact on work, they do
have confidence in their strategy. While 21 per cent
of respondents are concerned about ensuring their
colocation strategy doesn’t lag behind their business
needs, the majority (79 per cent) is confident that the
strategy will support business needs.
This is in spite of all the anxiety, complexity and security
concerns the survey identified around planning.
German (93 per cent) and British (90 per cent)
IT managers are the most confident; Swiss (61 per cent)
are the least.
How confident/concerned are you that your colocation strategy will help you keep up with
your
80 business needs?
60
80
40
60
20
40
0
20
Belgium Belgium
DenmarkDenmark
France France
GermanyGermany
The Netherlands
Switzerland
UK
0
The Netherlands
Switzerland
UK
Very confident Quite concerned
Quite confident Very concerned
Very confident Quite concerned
Quite confident Very concerned
12Survey
On behalf of Colt, Opinion Matters surveyed 700 IT/data
centre managers in the UK, France, the Netherlands,
Germany, Belgium, Denmark and Switzerland between 4
and 15 July 2014.
Veel lachen, en niet altijd serieus zijn
Laughing a lot and not
always being serious
Last word…
…goes to the Dutch respondent whose area of most
importance when planning data centre strategy was
reportedly this:
Data centre planning shouldn’t be – and doesn’t have
to be – an anxious process.
Colt is the information delivery platform, enabling its customers to deliver,
share, process and store their vital business information. An established leader
in delivering integrated network, data centre, voice and IT services to major
organisations, midsized businesses and wholesale customers worldwide. Colt
operates in 22 European countries with a 46,000km European network and
transatlantic network capacity. Colt has metropolitan area networks in 42 major
European cities with direct fibre connections into 19,800 buildings and 20 carrier
neutral Colt data centres.
For more information please visit:
www.colt.net
© 2014 Colt Technology Services Group Limited. The Colt name and logos are trade marks. All rights reserved.
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