Last month, we shared some of our cloud predictions for the year ahead. As the calendar moves full steam ahead, we are getting more information about the trends and adoption of cloud as well as leadership priorities for the year ahead.
One of the things many cloud experts watch for is RightScale’s State of the Cloud Report, a survey of 1,000 technology executives conducted at the beginning of the year. In addition to reports by research firms Gartner, IDC, and Forrester, RightScale’s work is also key to identifying themes that should concern all technology professionals.
I downloaded the survey the other day to examine the results. Here are four takeaways I found in examining the data:
- Cloud Scales Up: One of the more interesting pieces of data to come out of the survey was not the ‘what’ of cloud, but ‘how much’. RightScale found that public cloud users averaged 3.6 applications while private cloud users averaged 4.4 applications. End users are also more willing to experiment with moving into the cloud, signaling away from purely keeping applications on-premise. As more applications integrate into the cloud or become cloud-native, you can definitely expect this number to rise.
- Cloud Trust Increases: Even until last year, much of the conversation around cloud was the trustworthiness of users. RightScale’s survey showed that nearly 89% of respondents now use the public cloud in their day-to-day needs while both private and hybrid cloud instances saw minor declines. Even with regulatory hurdles in healthcare, financial services, and life sciences, organizations are still realizing that cloud has increased value. That still doesn’t leave us wondering why 5% of respondents don’t run any sort of cloud solutions at all.
- Room for Innovation: Normalization does not mean that organizations can remain independent in their cloud journey. RightScale also discovered that more respondents than ever saw the lack of expertise, security, and performance as issues, leaving cloud innovators with room to improve upon their technologies. Cloud solutions in 2017 will still have immense growth potential with an ever-changing regulatory landscape and more adopters.
- IT Roles Transform: As IT departments shift to the cloud they are also discovering how they fit in the adoption process. More respondents than ever believed that selecting public clouds and associated application placement led in response. This signals IT’s new role in being able to still select technologies for use while adding the flexibility of switching technologies at any time.
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Is 2017 your organization’s year to get into cloud? Let us help you by walking you through the process from beginning to end. Email us at sales@perficient.com or visit us at Booth #677 at IBM InterConnect in Las Vegas to get more information and download our hybrid cloud guide to see what business cases are available for your organization.
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