With global quarterly cloud infrastructure revenues now passing the $5 billion milestone, IT professionals are increasingly moving on from grand predictions that cloud is a ‘fix all’ solution. They are now focusing real-world deliverables – what can be achieved when you select the right kind of cloud for the right kind of applications at the right time.
Recent research by Adapt backs this up, revealing that 59% of IT decision makers believe that more than half of their IT infrastructure will be cloud-based by 2017, underlining the view that using cloud within a balanced approach to infrastructure is a more likely approach for most organisations.
Indeed, as the cloud phenomenon has become an increasing part of mainstream language, and even infiltrated the b2c world, user knowledge has also developed, allowing individuals and businesses to get better at articulating what they need and make better-informed decisions.
Businesses are taking a step back to assess the true relevance of cloud to their ongoing strategy, applications and workloads – rather than participating in an ‘as a service’ race.
Despite this more balanced approach taking shape, nearly 30% of respondents predicted between 75% and 100% of their infrastructure would be in the cloud within the next two years. So it is apparent there is a continuing accelerating demand for cloud-based services, even if the hype has given way to pragmatism.
What remains clear is that companies need flexibility from cloud service providers. It’s the Goldilocks scenario: increasingly, businesses won’t settle for cloud services that are too big, too small, too ‘hot’ or too ‘cold’. With more market knowledge, companies in search of cloud services know a lot more about what they are looking for.
Managed service providers (MSPs) help businesses create both standardised and customised environments that meet their specific needs. The hybrid approach is firmly set as ‘the mediator’ between cloud and non-cloud infrastructures, with MSPs taking charge of both ends.
As cloud technologies mature, and the market for cloud services continues to grow, it makes sense that hype has been replaced by logic and rationale.
Businesses understand what works for them, and now know how to ask for it. If 59% of IT decision makers believe that more than half of their IT infrastructure is going to be cloud based by 2017, it seems the hybrid is well and truly here to stay.
Sourced from Kevin Linsell, Adapt
