Businesses worldwide had ambitious plans for global expansion before the pandemic hit and were hit hard the past two years because of the supply chain challenges caused and global microchip shortages.

The Equinix 2022 Global Tech Trends Survey revealed that 59% of IT decision makers who participated in the survey said their businesses were hit by global supply chain issues and shortages, while 58% specified the global microchip shortage as a threat to their business.

Even with these continuous supply chain challenges caused by the pandemic and concerns about a potential recession, businesses are being optimistic about plans to further global expansion. The survey revealed almost three-quarters of respondents indicated their organization is planning to expand in the next 12 months into a new city, a new country or a new region entirely.

Almost half of businesses will facilitate global expansion plans by deploying virtually via the cloud, with over a quarter doing so using a bare metal solution. Meanwhile, 47% said they expect increased spending on carrier-neutral colocation solutions to facilitate the planned rise in digital deployments, while 59% said they intend to increase investment in interconnection services as part of their digital transformation and business resilience strategies.

The pandemic is also impacting businesses' digital strategies with more than half of global IT leaders saying they are accelerating their company's digital evolution. A little more than half confirmed their IT budgets increased, and 61% believe the technology changes and investments implemented during the pandemic are here to stay.

“The pandemic has accelerated growth and innovation,” said Karl Strohmeyer, chief customer officer at Equinix. "There are huge opportunities for businesses to successfully expand into new markets and reach new customers. Using new digital models, companies can deploy in new markets at relatively low cost and without sacrificing resiliency.”

Cybersecurity is, however, creating a cause for concern – specifically cyberattacks, security breaches and data leaks. As a result, reducing these risks is a high priority for businesses:

• Improving cybersecurity (85%)
• Compliance with local market data regulations (84%)
• Future-proofing business (83%)

Digital leaders worldwide have no plans to move to a less connected world despite a few concerns. What it means is businesses are looking to invest into digital technologies to move forward with their expansion plans.