When executives and engineers in a data center have completely different perspectives of operational efficiency, it’s time to worry.

Imagine how many businesses are relying on data centers for their business operations, but just 29% of data center decision-makers say their current facilities are meeting their needs.

Furthermore, a recent survey showed that just 6% of respondents said their data centers are updated ahead of their needs.

The survey results indicate a troubling lack of planning and preparation for today’s evolving data ecosystem. A closer examination of the results reveals a stark contrast between executives and engineers: 11% of executives say their data centers are updated ahead of current needs while just 1% of engineers say the same.

These are among the findings included in a report from Forbes Insights and Vertiv that examines 150 data center executives and engineers from various industries around the world.

Other notable results from the survey:

92% of CIOs and CTOs say their business will require faster download and response times in the near future

63% say they have difficulty meeting bandwidth needs at all times

Security (45%) and bandwidth (43%) are the two areas most in need of upgrades

Security (43%), backup and emergency preparedness (33%), the ability to implement new technologies (28%) and bandwidth (27%) were the most commonly identified features that will give businesses a competitive advantage

Respondents are bullish on self-configuring and self-healing data centers. Some 24% said more than half of their data centers will be self-configuring by 2025, and 32% said more than half will be self-healing

Said Martin Olsen, vice president of Global Edge Systems for Vertiv: “As today’s data center evolves to incorporate enterprise, cloud and edge resources, thorough planning and foresight is needed to meet organizational computing requirements and business objectives. It is clear, however, that many organizations are lagging on that front. With that in mind, we anticipate considerable investment and activity among businesses trying to catch up and get ahead of the changes.”

Added Tony Gaunt, senior director for cloud, hyperscale and colocation at Vertiv in Asia/India: “In Asia, we are seeing growing interest and attention among organizations in future-proofing their critical infrastructure to adapt to the expanding connectivity and network requirements. But there is much work that still needs to be done. There is a need to reexamine existing strategies and continuously improve upon them to achieve business success.”

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