Cisco's Caledonian chief believes we have a golden opportunity ... but only if we act now
High-value, long-term jobs and a return on the investments made in Scotland’s skill-base and telecoms network is what we are all looking for – and the mounting technical and governance challenges, associated with managing exponential growth in business data, provides us with the golden opportunity to take a leading position in a booming global industry.
If it were it possible to take a stack of agendas from the board meetings of the world’s largest and most powerful companies, it would be easy to identify the one issue determining the future shape of the global services industry. It’s the urgent need to consolidate the contents of massive data centres built up over the years, which is simply not being addressed.
When global organisations start asking where to locate such centres, Scotland is well-placed to meet the brief on every criterion:
- A good pool of skilled staff to keep the centre running 24/7/365
- Suitable existing premises to house the large quantities of computer hardware
- A cutting-edge telecommunications backbone
- A location well away from the business’ headquarters
Gordon Thomson is operations director, Scotland and Ireland, for Cisco Systems
Comments (2)
I can't see how building large sheds is going to somehow create lots of high value jobs? Organisations are just as likely to use existing staff or contract staff to setup datacentres as anything else. In the same way that you can't build an economy on having battery hens answering phones your unlikely to have much success in building an economy on building sheds to store data.
As for a good pool of staff to keep your centre running. You don't actually need local staff as everything can be managed remotely. Your quality staff are as likely to be based in china or india as glasgow or paisley. Yet again scotland will give huge subsidies to companies to setup more so called business opportunities until the subsidies run out and your data is moved elsewhere, which will be a simple task.
neoneo100![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://sundayheraldsalon.com/salon/nav-commenters.gif)
on September 3, 2006 10:34 AM report comment
Neoneo100 – Thanks for your comments. You are absolutely correct about the need to assess any proposed investment in Scotland’s services industry, to ensure it delivers high-skilled, sustainable jobs.
However, the opportunity represented by data centres is fundamentally different to many other “consolidated” global services, in several key areas.
Data centre jobs cannot be “virtualised” in the same way as those of contact centre workers, to use your example. Because of the highly technical, hands-on skills required in a data centre environment, it is necessary for the vast majority of administration and maintenance to be performed on-site.
Establishing a data centre is a major organisational and financial commitment for the organisation concerned. Therefore, their location – and, more importantly, their relocation – is far less subject to short-term market factors than other, more easily-transferable, facilities.
One of Scotland’s key strengths is that we already have an advanced, high-speed telecommunications infrastructure, allowing businesses to locate a new data centre anywhere in the country. As well as providing reliable connectivity, we also have a stable political system and a very low risk of natural hazards such as earthquakes. Risk management is a key factor in data centre placement.
In short, attracting a single large data centre will secure somewhere in the region of 500 secure, high-value jobs for skilled Scottish IT workers. This will be the pay-off for years of Scottish investment in technology skills and a cutting-edge telecommunications infrastructure.
g_thomson![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://sundayheraldsalon.com/salon/nav-commenters.gif)
on September 8, 2006 11:41 AM report comment