Enterprises in Switzerland are looking to a mixture of private and hybrid data centre solutions, many of them augmented by automation, to blunt the impact of rising operating costs, according to a new research report published by Information Services Group (ISG), a leading global technology research and advisory firm.
The 2023 ISG Provider Lens Private/Hybrid Cloud – Data Center Services report for Switzerland finds more and more companies in Switzerland are seeking to optimise their operating costs by adopting managed hosting services in combination with a public cloud infrastructure. As a result, despite a relatively low profit margin, the managed hosting business in Switzerland remains significant, the ISG report said.
“Some Swiss service providers are using automated IT functions to counter the cost pressure resulting from inflation and spiking energy prices due to the conflict in Ukraine,” said Uwe Ladwig, Managing Director for ISG DACH. “Even so, they should still plan for renegotiations with their current clients.”
Providers are taking two principal routes to achieve their automation goals. Some have partnered with independent software vendors (ISVs) to leverage their automation capabilities, while others have built those capabilities from the ground up.
Automation capabilities can level the playing field between large, established service providers and smaller regional vendors. According to the ISG report, many Swiss firms are turning to technologies from niche providers instead of opting for costly conversions. In the process, some larger, more established service providers are losing out, the report said.
Providers large and small are employing technologies such as AIOps and autonomous IT operations to offset rising employee salaries and inflation and to create an automated value chain. Meanwhile, the proliferation of IoT technologies and 5G in Switzerland has increased demand for providers that can help clients build edge computing infrastructures, ISG said.
“Enterprises want applications that can be deployed easily and operated independently,” said Jan Erik Aase, Partner and Global Leader, ISG Provider Lens Research. “Microservices and container management services are key for the fast and flexible deployment of Edge Computing infrastructures and applications.”
The report also examines how increased energy costs and higher inflation have driven service providers to take further action to reduce emissions.
The 2023 ISG Provider Lens Private/Hybrid Cloud – Data Center Services report for Switzerland evaluates the capabilities of 78 providers across five quadrants: Managed Services – Large Accounts; Managed Services – Midmarket; Managed Hosting – Large Accounts; Managed Hosting – Midmarket; and Colocation Services.
The report names Swisscom as a leader in all five quadrants, while Atos, Aveniq, Bechtle, ELCA/EveryWare, Kyndryl, MTF, ti&m and T-Systems are named as leaders in two quadrants each. Accenture, Arvato Systems, Axians, BitHawk, Capgemini, Digital Realty (Interxion), Equinix, EveryWare, Green, Netcloud, NTS Workspace, NTT GDC, Stack Infrastructure, UMB and Wipro are named as leaders in one quadrant each. In addition, CANCOM and TCS are named as Rising Stars — companies with a ‘promising portfolio’ and ‘high future potential’ by ISG’s definition — in one quadrant each.
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