The narrative that cloud and traditional
storage are at direct odds, while compelling,
is oversimplified. Within today’s landscape,
there are more options than just public cloud
and traditional on-premise. Software as a
Service (SaaS) has exploded, while private
cloud has also seen significant increase in
relevancy. A strategy that deploys some
combination of these options is referred to
as hybrid cloud. This is a route that most
enterprises in the MEA region are opting to
go down, as evidenced by findings of the
survey where 69% of businesses say they
will increase their public cloud usage in
the next 18-24 months. In parallel, private
cloud (57%) and SaaS (56%) usage is also
expected to grow in the same time frame.
In my conversations with more than 70
CIOs, VPs of Infrastructure and technology
leaders over the past several months, the
general consensus is two-fold:
• Organisations that aren’t using public cloud
in some capacity are likely missing out
• Public cloud is part of a strategy – but it’s
not the strategy
Strategic infrastructure is key to optimising
for the new reality of digital business – and
that means building a hybrid cloud. Today,
major retail brands – which were previously
never considered technology companies –
www.intelligentcio.com
“
THE DEMAND
FOR SIMPLER
STORAGE,
COMBINED
WITH AN
UNPRECEDENTED
EXPLOSION
OF DATA, HAS
CREATED THE
PERCEPTION OF
AN UNSTOPPABLE
DRIVE TOWARD
THE PUBLIC
CLOUD.
are generating more data than high tech
firms did a decade ago. Car companies
like Mercedes and Tesla, outfit cars with
sometimes hundreds of sensors, which
constantly pour critical performance data
back into organisational databases. 90%
of all data ever generated was generated in
the last five years. Analysts forecast that by
2025, we will generate 180 zettabytes – or
180 trillion gigabytes – of data annually.
To gain advantage from that data, maintain
a modern pace of innovation and improve
operational efficiency, organisations must be
highly analytical and strategic about which
workloads and applications live where.
Analytics and business intelligence are two
of the top focus areas for CIOs with 77% of
survey respondents reporting that they see
more demand in the business for real time
analytics and interactive simulations than a
year ago. To effectively utilise both, modern IT
professionals must understand the strengths
and limitations of different infrastructure
options to create the optimal hybrid
environment for their organisational needs.
Public cloud has revolutionised the standard
for easy IT. It’s simpler to manage, and
removes the time and energy burden of
technology upgrades from the customer.
It’s a utility model, which is attractive to
organisations for which capex is limited,
and provides the flexibility needed to
scale up and down quickly depending
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