Nearly all APAC IT decision makers (99%) agree that legacy network infrastructure will struggle to keep pace with the changing demands of the cloud and hybrid networks, according to a survey by Riverbed Technology.
The global survey, which includes responses from 1,000 IT decision makers across nine countries – including Japan, China, India and Australia — revealed a very high level of agreement that legacy infrastructures are holding back their cloud and digital strategies.
In addition, 93% of respondents say their organization’s cloud strategy will only reach its full potential with a next generation network, and 98% agree that a next-gen network is critical to keep up with the needs of their business and end users.
The survey also found there is a current gap in the adoption of next generation technology such as SD-WAN that will accelerate the cloud and digital transformation, however a tipping point is near.
Of the APAC IT decision makers surveyed, 92% plan to migrate to SD-WAN within the next four years, up from just 6% today.
Currently, performance pains experienced by businesses in APAC are glaring, as nearly half (48%) report that they experience cloud-related network issues specifically caused by their legacy infrastructure a few times a month or more; and 90% said it impacts their business at least monthly.
But 85% of these same decision makers say they are still several years away from reaching the full potential of digital transformation, in part due to their legacy infrastructure. This number jumps to 90% for respondents in China and 94% in Japan.
This gap between realization and actual deployment is consistent from companies across verticals such as financial, manufacturing, retail, energy and utilities, communications and media, and IT services, and could threaten their competitive positions in their respective markets.
While a current gap exists in the adoption of next-gen technology to support cloud and digital transformation in the enterprise, this is changing quickly. Of those surveyed, 97% agree that within two years SD-WAN technology will be critical in next generation networks to manage cloud and hybrid.
While only 6% of those surveyed are currently benefiting from SD-WAN today (slightly higher than the global average of 4%), more than half (57%) plan to migrate to SD-WAN within two years, and 92% within four years.
First published in Enterprise Innovation