Executive Summary
The infrastructure services market continues to work through an unprecedented period of turbulence and uncertainty. Macroeconomic headwinds have changed the decision-mak- ing calculus for large enterprises, put initiatives on hold and created economic challenges for the small business community. All this has translated into weaker pipelines, longer sales cycles and slower top-line growth. It was not that long ago that things looked to be accelerating favourably into the post-pandemic period, but that has seemingly been put on hold.
Despite the headwinds, the sector continues to demonstrate its resilience. Internet infrastructure remains a core and non-negotiable component of any business and while things are being put on hold and delayed, there has not been any fundamental rethinking. Content and applications that are online are staying there, and workloads yet to move to cloud are still going to make the transition. It may just take a bit longer than has recently been expected.
It is not surprising that organizations are being more deliberate and striving for efficiency as they look to buckle down and cut costs. This is both a product of the current environment as well as the fact that cloud and data centre infrastructure has been around for a while now. It is about that time to take a step back and evaluate things and make sure they are being done right and moving in the proper direction. In short, wider conditions and sector maturation have conspired to lead the sector into a period of recalibration. There is always room for introspection and improvement and that is exactly what is happening on the ground. The rise of cloud-based infrastructure remains inevitable and there will not be a reset or return to the past. It is about realigning and positioning for the next wave of growth and development that is lurking just around the corner.
This report takes a close look at the noteworthy trends and developments from the recent 4Q22 period. A more detailed look at the M&A landscape, APAC region and hyperscale cloud sectors is available to clients in separate quarterly reports
