CIO OPINION
But it’s important to understand what that
really means.
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 Middle East 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 timeframe.
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:
50
INTELLIGENTCIO
“
FOR A GREAT
MANY CIOS I’VE
SPOKEN WITH,
IS COMPLIANCE,
SOMETHING THAT
IS PARTICULARLY
IMPORTANT IN
THE MIDDLE EAST.
• 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 –
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 has been 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 74%
of respondents to the survey reporting that
they see more demand in the business
for real-time analytics and interactive
simulations than a year ago. To effectively
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