The year 2040 may sound like a date from science fiction. But it’s not that far away – in fact, we’re closer to it than we are to the launch of bitcoin. And by the end of the next decade, now less than 15 years away, the global economy is estimated to double in size, to an incredible $221 trillion in GDP.
It’s a stunning reminder about the opportunities for US businesses on the international stage. For today’s CIOs, who see themselves as enablers of business growth, the biggest risk now is falling behind in global expansion due to outdated digital strategies.
The stakes are high. With agile and seamless infrastructure, CIOs can power their organization forward and underpin commercial success. But a fragmented or inefficient digital foundation will lead to major problems of operational friction, compliance issues and lost opportunities.
A new global agenda
At the heart of CIOs’ new global agenda, therefore, must be the creation of a digital fabric that weaves together disparate data and systems, in a scalable and secure manner, across multiple countries.
“Their digital fabric isn’t merely a support system for their organization,” says Dino Trevisani, Senior Vice President & Head of Americas Region at Tata Communications. “The way CIOs combine platforms, tools, solutions and expertise is now often the make-or-break factor in how the enterprise operates today and grows tomorrow.”
Integrating and simplifying an enterprise’s existing technology ecosystem is no small task. Many CIOs oversee “hyperconnected” infrastructures that are complicated tangles of network types, locations and links. Other IT leaders grapple more with outdated legacy technology.
“At a time when they should to be architecting their digital foundations for an increasingly global future, too many CIOs are fighting to keep up,” observes Trevisani.
Three challenges for CIOs
Drilling down to specifics, CIOs are facing three critical challenges right now that threaten to derail their companies’ international ambitions.
The first challenge is consistency – or rather, the mounting cost of its absence. Without seamless connectivity across regions, stable application performance regardless of location, and the ability to rapidly integrate new international facilities into their existing infrastructure, companies will lose out to more agile competitors. Meanwhile, navigating the maze of cross-border regulations risks fragmenting their security standards, and could leave organizations vulnerable to potentially costly compliance penalties.
The second challenge presents a testing paradox: while fighting for consistency, CIOs also have to avoid too much consolidation. Recent geopolitical shocks have forced CIOs to urgently diversify their IT infrastructure away from concentrated geographic locations. While this defensive posture is essential for survival, it’s also creating new complexities as CIOs scramble to establish systems in unfamiliar territories – often with limited resources and expertise.
That leads to the third threat: the sheer speed and complexity of technological disruption. According to Shane Guthrie, VP Operations at application delivery and security company F5, the reality is such that “you could develop a long-term plan today that would be absolutely useless at the end of the year, because the market has shifted so rapidly and dramatically.” This volatility is forcing CIOs to abandon traditional rigid planning in favor of more adaptive approaches, where “you don’t change the destination, but you may change the path you take to it.”
Why partnership matters
In this context, it’s clear why CIOs need a knowledgeable and experienced partner to help them navigate their way forward. Tata Communications, as a global tier-one connectivity provider, offers the scale, reach and expertise essential to global growth – not just providing infrastructure, but actively architecting digital success.
“Our network carries 35% of the world’s internet routes directly as customer routes,” says Trevisani. “Because of that breadth and scale, we can offer an integrated platform that connects our customers across more than 150 countries. That’s very compelling for US companies who want to explore global markets.”
Moreover, Tata Communications provides deep-rooted understanding of individual markets, especially in fast-growing Asian countries, with teams on the ground to guide customers through national regulations and local vendor selection.
At a time when some SIs and consultancies take a cookie-cutter approach to modernizing a company’s digital fabric, Tata Communications offers a very different experience. It spends time getting to know the customer’s organization and understanding what it wants to accomplish. Through that human-centered process, CIOs benefit from more effective and transformative advice.
A global future
As we head toward 2040, the path to successful international expansion increasingly runs through the CIO’s office. Those who can build and maintain a robust, scalable digital foundation will be tomorrow’s winners, helping their organizations to outperform rivals and capture opportunities in new markets.
Working with the right technology partner, CIOs can turn their digital fabric from a potential roadblock into a powerful enabler. And ultimately, ensure their business reaps the rewards of the global economy’s next phase.
