Microsoft’s Q1 earnings have reported a successful quarter and surge in demand for cloud computing services. It makes sense that cloud based services such as Microsoft Teams are the star performer in the company’s latest quarterly figures, with usage more than trebling since the start of the pandemic. People and organisations around the world are continuing to rely on cloud-based collaboration services to remain connected while working remotely. At GTT, we have seen a surge in traffic across our internet network since the outbreak of the pandemic.

Our research at the end of last year showed that businesses expected to increase their cloud spend in 2020. No one could have predicted COVID-19 and the extent to which its impact would surpass their expectations. But the overall truth is that .

As reliance on cloud increases, so will the demand for a cloud-optimised network that can ensure security, resiliency, flexibility and agility. Businesses need to ensure that they have a reliable and robust network backbone in place to support cloud-based applications and boost digital transformation. A software-defined (DS) approach to network connectivity makes this possible.

This way, businesses can ensure traffic takes the most direct and low-latency path to mission-critical applications. With the flexibility, security resiliency that SD-WAN offers cloud connectivity is and should be an integral part of the network strategy to build a strong standing for the future.