How a datacenter can help boost the nation’s economy

DATA is the increasingly becoming the world’s most valued commodity. Those who have it and can turn it into insight have an almost unfair advantage against those that don’t.

According to IDC, the world will spend about US$160 billion on public cloud services in 2018 in a bid to make their data more useful.

By 2020, LogicMonitor says, around 80 percent of enterprises will run their workloads on the cloud, which will make churning out insights from data, in real-time, much easier.

Dimension Data recently announced the availability of their managed cloud services in Malaysia. This allows companies in Malaysia to deploy enterprise-class applications and workloads on the cloud while ensuring data sovereignty.

On a larger scale, Dimension Data’s investment in Kuala Lumpur can help boost Malaysia’s economy.

Datuk Zainal Amanshah, Chief Executive Officer of Invest KL calls this the “SST” factor.

Far from anything to do with the soon to be implemented Sales and Services Tax in the country, what Datuk Zainal was referring to are factors that contribute to the economy.

The acronym SST stands for Size, Substance, and Talent.

Dimension Data is a large company with a global presence in the space of system integration and managed services, valued at US$8 billion. This refers to the ‘size’ factor.

“Multinationals using Kuala Lumpur as a hub for investment would bring a lot of business opportunities for the ecosystem,” Zainal said.

Substance refers to the high-quality investment that Dimension Data provides. High tech companies bring with them technology and knowhow, which can be transferred to the local economy.

According to Zainal, “Digital economy is at the top of the agenda for the government. It contributes about 18 percent growth to our GPD and we expect it to achieve more than 20 percent growth in GDP by the year 2020.”

The final point is talent. Any companies that invest in a country would bring with them job opportunities, creating a demand for local talents. Local workers can also gain perspective and insights from other countries depending on where the company operates.

Zainal added: “Our local talents will be exposed to the best of the best. Especially for a company with a regional presence, our local talents can take advantage of getting exposure in the region.”

Technology companies help connect businesses by providing tech solutions. The need for localized infrastructure was primarily due to compliance with regulatory standards.

However, it can have a positive influence on not only the economy but also help improve the standards of the job market.

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