The coronavirus pandemic has held the world firmly in its grasp for around 15 months, and although the arrival of vaccines hints it might soon be coming to an end, one thing is clear: It will leave deep and lasting traces on almost all aspects of life – including IT.

Thanks to working from home and social distancing, IT is attracting a level of attention it has never experienced before. Despite the uncertainty that continues to cloud the economic outlook, IT budgets are set to rise yet again in 2021, albeit less steeply than they did in the previous year. Almost nine out of ten organisations aim to make investing in further digitalization a top priority. This is borne out by analysis results from the latest IT trends study by Capgemini, in which a total of 144 IT and specialist executives from major companies and authorities in Germany, Austria and Switzerland took part in September and October 2020.

Just under half of the companies surveyed (48.4 per cent) want to increase their IT budgets, although this proportion is not quite as high as the previous year (63.1 per cent). The number of companies intending to reduce their IT expenditure has remained constant at 15 per cent. However, this has less to do with strategy and more to do with an existential necessity the long lockdowns have caused in many companies.

HOW WILL THE IT BUDGET FOR 2021 CHANGE COMPARED TO THE 2020 BUDGET?

CONSULTING EXPERTISE IN DEMAND

All the same, requirements and demand still exist in terms of project business. “What is striking is the clear growth in demand for consulting expertise,” points out Konstantin Bobyliov, a data centre specialist and Head of the Rittal Competence Center in Lithuania. Despite the pandemic, new data centre projects are still being launched in places such as Eastern Europe and the Baltic states. This puts the expert in a better position than ever before to apply his know-how as an Uptime-accredited tier designer. As Bobyliov explains, the economic fallout of the pandemic means it is more important than ever for companies to make the right decisions when it comes to new projects. Having a holistic overview of all the associated conditions and the insight that comes from many years of practical experience with scalable, efficient cooling solutions, for example, goes a long way towards avoiding errors in data centre planning and developing future-proof, cost-effective solutions.

THE FIVE RITTAL IT COMPETENCE CENTERS

ENGINEERING EXCELLENCE

The Rittal IT Competence Centers stand for comprehensive expertise and many years of experience gained through numerous international IT projects.

• Uptime and IPMA certified engineers and project managers
• Project planning in Germany based on DIN EN 50600
• Concept development by tier designers who are accredited by the Uptime Institute
• Planning certainty thanks to extensive experience and a broad product portfolio
• Professional support for IT projects that spans all phases