Harnessing the power of hybrid cloud
TechInformed
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Cloud adoption has boomed post-Covid, but are enterprising getting the most out of their hybrid cloud strategies? Leaseweb UK’s Terry Storrar shares his thoughts
Over the last decade or so, cloud computing has become one of the technology industry’s ubiquitous success stories. Between 2010 and 2020, for instance, data suggests that the global cloud computing and hosting market grew by more than 500%. In monetary terms, from a value of ‘just’ $25 billion in 2010, it had climbed to over $150 billion just a decade later.
Fast forward to today, and cloud has become so pervasive that it’s tempting to assume that an ‘all in’ or ‘cloud only’ approach might now be the dominant contemporary migration trend. While it’s certainly true to say that cloud is key to many IT strategies, ‘cloud only’ does not, in fact, dominate, nor is it seen as considered a must-have for every relevant use case.
For example, research indicates that before the pandemic, a ‘cloud first’ strategy was the most popular approach to migration (36%), followed by a ‘preference but not commitment’ to use private cloud (26%). At the time, only 19% stated a dedicated ‘cloud only’ approach. As is now widely accepted, priorities changed significantly over the following two years or so, not least to the rise in remote and flexible working. Indeed, ‘cloud only’ strategies increased to 25%, while ‘cloud first’ decreased to 25% before going back up to 31% post-pandemic. Over the same period, ‘cloud only’ remained the same.
So, where does that leave organisations who are looking to develop their use of cloud as part of a multi-cloud or hybrid strategy? First of all, it’s important to consider the differences between the two approaches.