Intelligent CIO Europe Issue 32 | Page 51

COUNTRY FOCUS: NETHERLANDS services are disrupted, a sector of society goes dark. The changing infrastructure means that IT security services have to be smarter and better organised. Interconnected society As lovely as it would be, there is simply no single comprehensive answer to all of these challenges. Digitisation has many different facets, after all. It makes sense that they would require multiple solutions. One key to the conundrum is the increasing necessity of organisations being able to exchange data in a way that is safe, secure and fast. This facet is also known as interconnection and it’s not a new phenomenon. For years, telecom and cloud providers have offered direct connections for exchanging data. However, the enormous growth of interconnection is striking. The Global Interconnection Index, an annual survey by Equinix, predicts that the number of private connections will grow by 51% in each of the coming years. Currently, organisations have an average of 340 direct connections to cloud providers and partner organisations. Michiel Eielts, Managing Director Benelux, Equinix government entities, highlighted the challenge in its vision statement. Public organisations will need to engage with suppliers and partners in the chain far more than they currently do. For government institutions to cooperate with other parties and work flexibly, they must deploy and use platforms and ecosystems. It’s the only way to simplify collaboration and provide easy access to the necessary links and domains. These new digital possibilities, however, offer new risks at the same time. It’s more important than ever before to know where data is stored and how information is exchanged. Additionally, these digital services have to be constantly available once deployed, always and everywhere. If In fact, this explosive growth of interconnection highlights how the Netherlands is rapidly developing into a breeding ground for digital ecosystems and new business models. The new interconnected society is largely designed by Dutch entrepreneurs and based in data centres in the Netherlands. Unfortunately, government organisations themselves are still on the sidelines. There are a few reasons for this, but there are two major ones. Often, government organisations rely on outdated systems while the decisionmakers are concerned about security and worry about the cloud. Digital future If the Netherlands wants to remain a front-runner in the digital economy, the public sector itself must quickly engage with the hubs, networks and ecosystems. The direct exchange of data in a secure and scalable manner offers numerous opportunities to improve services to citizens and companies. It creates new opportunities for entrepreneurs and contributes to economic growth. • www.intelligentcio.com INTELLIGENTCIO 51