Digital Infrastructure: What It Is & Why It Must Be Protected

This blog was updated May 2025.

With over 5.3 billion people on Earth accessing the internet for interconnectivity and communication, businesses and companies have had to upgrade their digital infrastructure to stay competitive and reliable.

Digital infrastructure is the cornerstone of today’s enterprise, from communication networks to data storage facilities. However, this over-reliance on technology has led to modern threats, such as computer hacks that have led to the must-protect policy of digital infrastructure equipment.

In this article, we delve into the definition of digital infrastructure, explore its role in digital business operations, highlight its significance, and explain the connection between digital infrastructure and Cybersecurity.

What Is Digital Infrastructure?

Digital infrastructure refers to the designated physical and software-based components working together to relay information and digital products and services from one point to another. Some of the types used in the digital infrastructure industry include:

• Data centers

• Networks and digital communication suits

• Data infrastructure

• Virtualization and software

• Mobile telecom and broadband.

Its main objective is to ensure data sharing through the data infrastructure is seamless for sharing and consumption.

In addition, the data infrastructure definition relates to the various hardware and software components that work in tandem to enable data sharing, storage, and consumption. Some of the data infrastructure technologies used include:

• Storage equipment

• Processing hardware and software

• Networks

• Business applications

• Virtualization software

The ecosystem around the data infrastructure includes data infrastructure examples such as data integration, computer networks, cloud computing, database, data warehouse, etc.

Role of Digital Business Infrastructure

Your digital business infrastructure is the core engine that drives your business’s communication and data system. Additionally, it encompasses an array of software applications and technologies used for communication among your employees and customers. Here are some of the core roles:

Enabling Seamless Communication

• Its role in facilitating internal and external communication

• Collaboration tools and platforms for efficient teamwork

Streamlining Business Processes

• Automating workflows and optimizing operations

• Leveraging it for increased productivity

Enhancing Customer Experience

• Providing seamless online experiences and personalized services

• Leveraging data insights to improve customer satisfaction

Why Is Digital Infrastructure Important, and Why Should It Be Protected?

Consider our daily lives; would you rather lose your phone or wallet? If your phone represents your digital infrastructure and your wallet represents your physical infrastructure, it is better to lose your wallet than your phone. Your phone contains a lot of personal information that can be used to launch several attacks. Also, if someone gains access to your phone, they can infiltrate your bank account, email, social media, and other accounts, leading to a multi-layered attack.

Similarly, your company’s digital infrastructure is vulnerable to attack. If hackers gain access to an employee’s email, they can install malware and spyware to navigate through your company’s network and find multiple layers of attack to harm your business. Therefore, protecting it is crucial to prevent these attacks from happening.

The Importance of Digital Infrastructure for SaaS Companies

Digital infrastructure matters to every business, but it’s especially important for SaaS companies. These firms are digital-first, relying heavily on servers, networks, and storage systems to engage clients. This creates a higher level of dependency than non-digital-first businesses, like grocery stores and restaurants. When these technologies aren’t working, SaaS businesses can shut down. 

SaaS companies also invest in digital infrastructure for security and compliance reasons. They need it to protect sensitive data and earn certifications that help them win business, like SOC 2, ISO 27001, and NIST.

To abide by these frameworks, SaaS companies must meet special standards for customer data collection, storage, and usage. This can apply to:

• Payment information
• Sensitive customer details
• Proprietary business data
• Usage statistics
• Other forms of sensitive data

Digital infrastructure keeps this information secure and accessible. It helps SaaS businesses avoid fines, maintain strict separation between customer environments through multi-tenant models, and manage risk. But that doesn’t necessarily mean rushing out to buy the latest technologies. 

The most important thing is creating an infrastructure that works for your business needs and supports ongoing compliance. You may be able to get there by modifying your current approach instead of rebuilding from scratch.

Compliance Challenges in the SaaS Landscape

Digital infrastructure goes hand-in-hand with compliance, which in this context means the standards that SaaS companies follow to protect customer data and reduce security risks. To meet SOC 2 and ISO 27001 standards, you’ll need the right hardware, software, and services. These provide the technical backing needed to:

• Earn customer trust
• Maintain your brand identity
• Access global markets with regional rule differences
• Avoid costly fines and potential legal issues

However, compliance can mean different things to different SaaS companies. For instance, you may only need to meet regional regulations to do business internationally. Or, you may want to pursue certifications to support your marketing efforts. 

For example, SOC 2 and ISO 27001 certifications prove to potential clients that you’ll take their security seriously. This can help you win more contracts and build brand trust. But you may need to upgrade parts of your infrastructure to get there.

Along the way, you’ll have to navigate challenges like evolving regulations, changing market expectations, and building an integrated approach out of disparate infrastructure. Trava can help you create a personalized strategy for this if you’d like some support.

Embedding Compliance Into Digital Infrastructure

Another important job for SaaS firms is building a compliance-ready infrastructure. This means using the best practices for security throughout your technical environment, such as:

• Using enterprise-grade encryption
• Creating strict access controls
• Maintaining a secure development environment
• Installing continuous monitoring software to detect issues sooner

SaaS companies should also have processes in place for regular risk assessments, documentation updating, and audit preparation. Vendor management is a huge part of this. You’ll need to make sure that third-party suppliers comply with all of your best practices, or else the whole system could become vulnerable.

How Compliance Support Strengthens SaaS Security

For SaaS companies, compliance is more than just another box to check. It’s an investment that helps build trust with partners, win business, and position a brand for long-term success. But many growing SaaS companies lack the internal security expertise to execute their compliance vision. That’s why investing in the right tools and guidance can be valuable. 

Experts can step in to make sure you’re prioritizing the right controls and interpreting requirements correctly. They can recommend automated tools to take over repetitive tasks and streamline compliance processes.

With the right tools and support, your SaaS company can:

• Automate crucial but time-consuming security tasks like evidence collection, gap analysis, and policy updates
• Streamline audits to reduce downtime and cut costs
• Keep up with evolving regulations to avoid costly fines
• Protect sensitive customer data with improved controls
• Build a security-first culture that sets your brand apart from the competition

Compliance is complicated, but you don’t need to work toward it alone. Specialists and automated tools can take the burden off your shoulders, moving your company in the right direction without disrupting your operations. Reach out to an expert at Trava for help.

How Does Digital Infrastructure Relate to Cybersecurity?

While digital infrastructure encompasses a software and hardware ecosystem that supports communication and data transfer, there is a need to protect it from digital attacks like hacks, viruses, and data theft while data is being relayed on the data infrastructure.

And that is where Cybersecurity comes in.

Cybersecurity is the practice of your business putting up measures to protect networks, systems, and programs from these digital attacks on the digital infrastructure.

In addition, cybersecurity ensures this infrastructure is protected from hackers, data breaches, and other malicious activities. The two work together for data safety and communication.

Let Trava Secure Your Digital Infrastructure

Protecting your digital infrastructure should be a primary mandate in securing your company’s data and private conversations. At Trava, we provide a wide range of tools and expertise to help secure and identify threats in your company’s digital infrastructure.

Contact us today or schedule a consultation to see what Trava can do for your business.

And that is where Cybersecurity comes in.