All industries have greatly benefited from the digitization of the marketplace. Shops that established their online presence or partnered with e-commerce platforms are able to continue their selling activity even as their customers are at home. Customers, on the other hand, now expect that stores have an online facility as an option to the in-store shopping experience.
But how does a store do all this? Where is the e-marketplace residing? Now comes one of the most essential and critical digital infrastructures available — the data center.
Through a data center, a business’ ability to ‘add to cart’ and ‘pay online’ has never been more convenient.
Data centers host the web and back end infrastructure that run the online facilities. From the servers and computing equipment that run the application, to the network that interconnects the providers to the users, data centers are at the heart of every transaction.
Let’s take a look at the top 3 things that data centers do to support E-commerce activities.
1. 24/7 Connectivity and Uptime
Gone are the days when customers waited for stores to open. Using highly reliable and available infrastructure, data centers ensure that a company’s network and IT components keep running smoothly and efficiently 24/7. The Beeinfotech PH facility, as an example, is designed to weather the toughest conditions, it can withstand earthquakes, typhoons and other unforeseen events that may put systems at risk.
Data centers also house Business Continuity (BC) / Disaster Recovery (DR) sites for organizations that serve as a backup of IT resources. When the company HQ goes offline, the BC/DR that is available in the Beeinfotech PH facility can serve as the mirror location for uninterrupted business operations. Furthermore, businesses can benefit from telco-neutral data centers that can connect them to any Internet Service Provider (ISP). If the connection of one ISP goes down, a telco-neutral data center can simply switch a company’s connection to another provider. Downtime is one of the worst things that can happen to online businesses. Not only do they lose profit, but their reputation in the eyes of customers goes down as well, thus stressing the importance of maintaining an online presence at all times.
2. Enhanced Security
Government institutions such as the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) supervise e-commerce portals since they deal with financial transactions. Non-compliance to their regulatory guidelines, especially regarding the protection of customer information and the accuracy of the transactions, may lead to severe penalties. To meet the stringent requirements, e-commerce companies tap the services of data centers that provide the required technology to prevent fraudulent transactions and to ensure uptime. For example, Beeinfotech PH data center brings in the specialized digital security expertise and skills needed in facing cybersecurity threats.
Additionally, BeeInfoTech PH’s Security Operations Center (SOC) helps organizations detect, analyze, and respond immediately to cyberattacks. This is critical in stopping cyberattacks such as phishing and Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, which the BSP has noted to have increased during the pandemic.
3. Flexibility to meet demand
Together with 24/7 uptime and reliable connectivity, customers also expect that online stores provide a stable and hassle-free shopping experience. Businesses whose IT infrastructure cannot withstand the sheer number of shoppers, especially during sales or events promotions, can lead to slow loading times that hamper customer experience. By tapping the services of a data center, however, companies can achieve the level of flexibility that can withstand this hurdle.
A data center’s robust and flexible network and compute infrastructure can seamlessly scale up (or down) a company’s processing needs to handle transactional demand from increased web traffic and engagement. Bandwidth and interconnect can also be adjusted on demand so that online facilities experience no bottlenecks.
Customers experience an easier and safer online experience thanks to the support of data centers. Without data centers, it can be difficult for the industry to achieve the tremendous growth it is experiencing right now. Businesses that effectively manage their IT infrastructure, with the help of a reliable data center partner, emerge as the ones on top in revenue and equally, in the mind of customers.