Running outdated networks and other technology may be hindering Asia-Pacific organisations’ progress and ability to innovate, according to a recent report by NTT Data.
Some 93 per cent of Asia-Pacific C-suite executives believe legacy infrastructure greatly hinders their business agility, it found. In comparison, 80 per cent of organisations globally agree that inadequate or outdated technology holds back organisational progress and innovation efforts.
According to the report, 59 per cent of enterprises in Asia-Pacific have aligned their technology approach with their business strategy needs, while 71 per cent of organisations in the region say their network assets are mostly ageing or obsolete.
Such misaligned lifecycle patterns can have costly outcomes, resulting in inappropriate coverage levels, labour-intensive renewals, extended incident resolution times, security breaches, and even costly license violations and compliance issues.
“Infrastructure lifecycles are a critical part of the IT management process,” said Gary Middleton, vice-president of networking at NTT Data, an IT service provider and a part of the Japanese NTT Group involved in telecoms and other businesses.
Effective management of IT lifecycles can increase efficiency and foster greater innovation. Conversely, inefficient lifecycle management can be an “operational blocker, posing numerous risks to security and business continuity,” he added.
NTT Data noted that it can be difficult for organisations to maintain their technology infrastructure in a way that fosters business agility and innovation.
This is due to rapid modernisation, diverse technology consumption models, and a fragmented supplier ecosystem, which makes it difficult for organisations to adequately maintain their technology infrastructure in a way that fosters business agility and innovation.
The report highlighted that more than two-thirds or 69 per cent of currently active hardware in Asia-Pacific will no longer be supported by 2027, compounding the difficulty of maintaining an effective technology infrastructure.
Key recommendations
The NTT Data report suggests that organisations can mitigate these risks and maximise infrastructure value with the following:
- Gain visibility across technology architectures, and develop a holistic view of their technology assets.
- Standardise procurement practices and streamline multi-vendor environments by consolidating purchasing and use of licenses to align with business and technology strategies.
- Weed out incompatibility between hardware and software, as old hardware that is unable to run new software causes downtime risks, security breaches, and compliance issues.
- Streamline a multi-vendor environment, which can cause visibility gaps, interoperability issues between technology and vendors, and make it challenging to effectively manage multiple vendors and multiple software versions.
