The survey asked IT executives and business leaders about their post-Covid plans relocate or add locations outside their current operating market, as well as scheduled upgrades to IT infrastructure and connectivity.
The report found that 70% of IT and corporate decision makers are considering relocating their business or adding more locations within the next 3-5 years of those, 78% are considering relocating their business to Texas.
Respondents cited market saturation and availability, followed by the expense of doing business in major metropolitan areas, and expanding their operations, as the drivers behind this change.
“Our research confirms what we already know: that Texas is a great place to live and work. Companies are discovering the advantages to relocating and expanding across a wide variety of communities within the Lone Star State, and not just the major metro areas," said Will Sears, chief revenue officer at FiberLight.
"As Texas continues to grow, businesses will need faster, more scalable connectivity in order to execute on their business strategies, and FiberLight’s deep roots and expansive network uniquely positions enables us to support growing organizations with secure and scalable connectivity.”
In addition, post-Covid, executives are planning for hybrid and cloud infrastructure models. In order to carry out the aforementioned relocation or expansion, executives are prioritising, in order: data centre access (29%); public sector (22%); cloud migration (20%); dedicated Internet access (15%); and dark fibre (12%).
Additionally, leaders said their biggest priorities for connectivity upgrades include speed / low latency, security and diverse connections.
“The past two years have dramatically changed how businesses across all sectors operate. Couple that with the changing demographics in major metropolitan areas due to employees having the flexibility to work from anywhere, we’re seeing a seismic shift in where businesses are moving their operations,” said Chris Rabii, chief executive officer at FiberLight.
“These moves have highlighted the core infrastructure requirements to support businesses that are moving to new locations. Traditionally, rural areas around our country have been ignored but these findings show that can’t be the case any longer.”
