We have reached a defining moment when it comes to the adoption of the cloud. These days, many companies no longer see it as a means of making marginal cost or operational savings, but instead view cloud as the basis for delivering true business transformation.
This trend is reflected in predictions of market growth. New figures from global analyst Gartner predicts that within three years, 90% of organisations will have adopted management infrastructure capabilities based on hybrid cloud. This particular architecture – the combination of private cloud to retain data control and public cloud with its agility and cost-model advantages – offers the perfect solution for companies looking for flexibility, security and scalability.
Indeed, hybrid cloud can have profound impact on the performance of an organisation’s IT capabilities. It provides an agile, on-demand means of delivering solutions, giving rapid access to new hardware and software technologies, while reducing upfront capital costs.
These are important attributes, as business transformation comes in many guises. For some it’s a process dependent on extracting new value from data and apps, while for others it’s about using new sources of data from emerging technologies such as the Internet of Things. Some organisations, meanwhile, are changing their operating models through the use of remote and flexible working and the automation of business processes. In every case, hybrid cloud solutions can support the changes that need to be made.
That puts a lot of responsibility and expectation on the shoulders of chief information officers and those in similar roles, who are often charged with playing a major part in mapping out business transformation in a secure and cost-efficient manner. Keeping up with the latest trends is difficult task, and for many cloud-bound companies the solution to overcoming these challenges is to partner with an IT organisation with a breadth of expertise in cloud adoption and migration to steer them successfully across a hybrid landscape.
Certainly, when it comes to hybrid cloud, where companies transition from having on-premise data centres where they’ve previously held all their IT, to using software, platforms or infrastructure as a service, we find that companies often need help them with that engagement. Many CIOs recognise that they cannot do it alone. They face huge challenges in connecting and managing data across on-premise and cloud environments, while ensuring their data is well governed and protected. Having completed the initial cloud migration and integration, companies must keep pace with new developments to take full advantage of cloud, something that many simply have neither the skills nor the resource to do.
For these reasons, it’s vital that cloud-bound companies choose their partners carefully. Here at CDW, we have many years’ experience as an IT solutions, managed and cloud services provider, and can deliver seamless infrastructure that is aligned with customers’ demands. But we don’t operate in isolation. CDW partners with the very best software companies, including organisations such as NetApp, which enables agile and seamless data management across the hybrid cloud, complementing our end-to-end IT solutions.
Working together, our two companies present a strong partnership with a formidable range of solutions and strategies: a shared strategy of providing flexible services and efficient cloud architectures.
There’s no doubt, then, that hybrid cloud can help deliver business transformation and market disruption. But the key to that success in process is selecting the right partner for the journey at hand.
For further information: NetApp & CDW and discover our Hybrid Cloud Infographic and the Future CIO Raconteur Report.
By Colin Kilpatrick, Data Centre Technology Specialist, CDW.