Tim Miles: Whenever, wherever' a new digital world

Gen-i CEO Tim Miles.

We all have to find new ways of doing business, says Tim Miles.

Clients are telling us they're looking to take advantage of the incredibly rapid pace of change in their business environment, and the digital world that is our new reality. Our focus is on helping them achieve this through technology solutions that deliver flexibility, agility, control over costs and the ability to do business anywhere, anytime.

As clients embark on the critical journey from their current state to this new digital world, each is transitioning at their own pace, and in the most relevant way for their business. They are questioning whether they want their people or capital tied up in owning and managing standard IT infrastructure. They typically want to focus on the strategic applications that really create value for the business, and this is driving uptake of cloud and mobility solutions.

Some of our clients are shifting away from devices, towards services. And they're also actively looking at how they can take advantage of mobility, which is a concept that has been around for a while, but is moving at real pace at the moment.

We've progressed well beyond the notion that you have a laptop or desktop, and base your working world around that device. In the new digital world, the personal cloud is the new hub, and it can be accessed anywhere, anytime, using a variety of devices - smartphone, desktop, tablet or laptop.

This means organisations can now do business and deliver services to their customers on whatever device they want, whenever and wherever they want it - as long as they are tapped into the right mix of technologies and infrastructure, all working together. This mix includes an advanced digital network, the Cloud, mobile applications and ICT services.

This is why we've been investing hundreds of millions of dollars every year to ensure we have New Zealand's leading digital network, and the best cloud and mobility capability in the market. These investments include a powerful platform for mobility that brings together 3G, 4G, WiFi and fibre, underpinned by a brand new core data network using optical transport technology.

We've also significantly boosted our cloud capabilities, having acquired Revera last year and completed new data centres in Christchurch and Dunedin, with two more state of the art facilities under construction in Auckland and Wellington. And we're bringing innovative new services and business applications into the New Zealand market through partnerships with some of the world's best known technology providers, including Cisco, SAP, Microsoft, Samsung and HP.

I believe the current growth of mobility and cloud uptake in the New Zealand market is a natural response to the very real opportunities that organisations are seeing out there. To ensure we're best placed to help our clients seize these opportunities and unleash their full potential, we'll continue to invest, partner and make bold strategic decisions to reshape our business for the digital world.

The new reality for business is that we all have to find new ways of doing things and it's no longer just about what you do, but how to do it really fast. Time is of the essence.

• Tim Miles is CEO of Gen-i.