Efficiencies, Innovation and Workforce Mobility Help Drive Cloud Adoption; Cloud Infrastructure Use Will Continue to Grow: Aptum Study

CLOUD BOOMERANG CAN BE AVOIDED BY HAVING EXPERT ASSESSMENT AND A HOLISTIC CLOUD STRATEGY

TORONTO, ON (Feb. 23, 2022): Aptum, a hybrid multi-cloud managed service provider, today released part one of its annual Cloud Impact Study 2022. The report, titled Hybrid: Why and How – Applying lessons from digital transformation, explores the deployment of workloads on different cloud infrastructures and examines the decision-making process behind their placement.

Report Highlights:

The majority of IT decision-makers plan to increase their organization’s use of public cloud (78%) and private cloud (72%) infrastructure over the next 18-24 months.

Eighty-six percent (86%) of respondents said their organization has adopted a hybrid or multi-cloud approach to cloud deployment.

A vast majority of the respondents also recognized many of the benefits the cloud delivers to their organizations, with the majority agreeing it has delivered on expected efficiencies (90%). Respondents also cited the rate of cloud transformation in their organization has had a positive impact on the following areas:

• Innovation (71%)
• Operational efficiency (71%)
• Workforce mobility and enablement (63%)
• IT expenditure (63%)
• Customer experience (63%)

Indeed, when presented with 12 application categories, respondents said the cloud is the preferred hosting option for all of them, compared to just two out of nine categories in Aptum’s first Cloud Impact Study in 2021. However, despite recognizing the benefits of the cloud, not all workloads are destined for cloud platforms, and some organizations are experiencing a ‘cloud boomerang effect’ among specific applications. Almost half (47%) of respondents anticipate an increase in their organization’s use of traditional (non-cloud-based) infrastructure over the next 18-24 months, up from just under a quarter (23%) in 2021.

The study identifies that one of the causes of the shift back to legacy infrastructure is rooted in lack of strategy. Only 20% of respondents said they have a holistic cloud computing strategy. Additionally, integration of cloud with on-premises systems was cited as the top challenge an organization would face when operating in cloud environments, tied first with data privacy and security challenges.

“When the pandemic hit, many organizations reacted hastily to moving applications to the cloud and neglected some workload considerations that have since become apparent. So, while organizations see benefits from the cloud, they could have been more successful in their endeavors when the shift first took place if the requirements of each application were carefully evaluated,” explains Chris David, Aptum’s Senior Cloud Product Leader. “Contrary to widely held belief, the cloud boomerang effect isn’t simply about moving workloads from cloud platforms back to traditional infrastructure. More accurately, the boomerang is the movement of applications between development and operations teams.”

The primary focus of development teams is on the creation of new versions of applications, meaning limited time can be spent on administrative duties required to refactor workloads for cloud. Due to this, the onus often shifts back to the operations teams to manage administration. Unfortunately, operations teams often lack the necessary skills or resources. If they lack skills, tools, cloud governance policies or operational practices to enforce operational standards, these workloads will often come back to legacy platforms.

“To overcome these challenges, organizations need to have a holistic cloud strategy guided by an experienced Managed Service Provider (MSP),” says David. “They can help businesses understand the characteristics that need to be assessed when deciding where each application should be hosted and help them avoid the mistakes that lead to a cloud boomerang.”

The survey results call for organizations to look at ecosystems, with business objectives and optimization in mind, to avoid placing workloads in inappropriate locations. To save time, money and resources and to increase interoperability, businesses should look to hybrid and multi-cloud specialist providers, with the skills and experience to assist in those decisions.

The study canvassed the opinions and approach to cloud technology of 400 senior IT professionals. Respondents were from organizations with 250+ employees in the U.S., Canada and UK. Industries included financial services, technology, telecommunications, manufacturing, retail, public education and the commercial sector.

To see the full findings from part one of Aptum’s Cloud Impact Study 2022, Hybrid: Why and How – Applying lessons from digital transformation, please download the report here.

About Aptum
Aptum is a hybrid multi-cloud managed service provider delivering complex and high-performance cloud solutions with an integrated secure network. Using its Data As Infrastructure™ approach, Aptum solves complex technology challenges with total solutions and tailored options that drive tangible business outcomes and maximize the value of its clients’ technology investments. Aptum’s cloud and global network solutions, underpinned with expert managed and professional services, offer genuine choice and adaptability with international reach spanning North America, Latin America, Europe and the United Kingdom. Aptum is a portfolio company of DigitalBridge, a global investment firm dedicated to strategic opportunities in digital infrastructure. For more information, visit www.aptum.com.

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For more information, please contact:
Claudine Dumont, Aptum
media@aptum.com