Financial services industry 'should move data centres to regions'

Firms operating in the financial services industry should move their data centres out of London.

This is according to Alex Rabbetts, managing director at data centre operator and consulting firm MigSolv, who noted there are a number of reasons why the option should be pursued.

Speaking to Computer World at the DataCentres Europe 2013 convention, Mr Rabbetts pointed to the threat of terrorist attack, the risk of flooding, high property prices and difficulty gaining access to a stable power supply as the core reasons for exiting the capital.

"Customers are beginning to realise they don't need to be in London. When you go outside of London it is cheaper, there are more stable power supplies, there are hundreds of reasons why you wouldn't want to be in London, so businesses are moving away from being very capital city-centric," he added.

In order to make big data more cost-effecitve and manageable, Deloitte has produced a report on the need for a leaner approach from financial services firms. It found that instead of rushing to get a big data programme off the ground, companies would be better served aligning their business capabilities - including strategy, people, process and technology - in order to offer a better service to the customer. 

According to Mr Rabbetts, aside from the various financial and organisational reasons for moving out of London, there is also the fact that having a large amount of data centres in one location is bad for the wider economy.

For example, if a natural disaster was to occur where the centres are situated, the whole financial services industry could be reduced to its knees.

The expert added improvements made to the UK's fibre broadband network mean it is now possible to relocate many data centres, something that would not have been possible five years ago.

However, he accepts certain businesses will always be keen to retain their data centres in London, as they have fears over latency issues.