A Latvian-Developed FLEX Cloud Solution Will Aid Companies Through Digital Transformation

‍DATI Group – a Latvian IT industry pioneer – has developed a new IT infrastructure solution FLEX Cloud. A flexible, cost efficient and vendor-agnostic cloud platform that can serve as a base for business process and product development.

Capable IT infrastructure is one of the key building blocks for the successful growth of any company – it is the base for ensuring the efficient operation of business applications, data storage, processing, and networking. “Unfortunately many companies believe that IT infrastructure is something separate from the main business operations and that changing it is extremely difficult. If an application performs poorly, they assume that this is a software issue or “that’s the way it should be.” However, in many cases the opposite is true – the correct choice of infrastructure allows companies to conveniently increase the performance of their systems and applications, control their resources, and significantly improve the way the companies provide their services, while improving internal process efficiency,” states DATI Group board member Rasa Gulbe.

In the spring of 2021, DATI Group conducted a survey of Latvian companies on IT infrastructure readiness for digital transformation. The survey covered multiple dimensions of digital readiness – digital literacy and skills, data security, and user experience. 522 company executives from 16 different areas of economic activity were surveyed. To fully understand and evaluate company digitization priorities the main concerns of the company executives were analyzed. The survey revealed that most executives (55%) are concerned about partial or total loss of data. Other significant concerns include insufficient protection against cyberattacks (35%), unplanned costs (34%), problem solving delays (33%), and the slow operation of systems (32%). Most of these potential risks are related to the company’s IT infrastructure and the quality of its maintenance.

The trend of transition from traditional IT infrastructure to cloud infrastructure is prevalent both globally and nationally. This alternative approach of storing and processing data is secure and allows the company to make adjustments and implement changes much quicker, while also having predictable costs.

“To help organizations benefit from cloud technology advantages, DATI Group has developed FLEX Cloud – a private cloud solution based on open source technologies. It is designed for companies that require a dynamic, secure, and cost efficient IT infrastructure. According to the survey we ran, 60% of respondents already utilize some cloud solutions, yet, only a few leverage tailored solutions with qualified local support. FLEX Cloud matches global equivalents in terms of functionality – significantly improving IT infrastructure performance – and is more customizable and financially beneficial. We are certain that our cloud solution will enable Latvian companies to work more efficiently in the digital environment,” continues R. Gulbe.

Among the main advantages of FLEX Cloud is significant processing power increase, adaptability to business and capacity requirements, lower costs, and last but not least, innovation and support enabled by open source technologies. The users of the solution have access to local support by DATI Group, as well as the global open source community resources.

FLEX Cloud solution is already employed by various organizations, for example the National Library of Latvia and AS “Akvedukts”. “We understood that the whole infrastructure needs to be revamped and set up with a larger goal than just storage of specific data or computing power. DATI Group was ready to tailor the solution to our needs – it was crucial to have exactly what we needed rather than what was offered by a vendor,” explains Jānis Freimanis, Director of Technology Department, National Library of Latvia about the choice of this solution.