How are businesses implementing their hybrid multi-cloud strategies?

I recently interviewed Misha Rangel, Senior Product Marketing Manager for IBM Systems, to share her insights on a recent enterprise hybrid multi-cloud study that was commissioned by IBM Systems and conducted by Forrester Consulting.

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One of the key findings mentioned in the report is that on-premises solutions continue to play a key role in IT Infrastructure spending decisions, with 90 percent of IT decision-makers agreeing that on-premises infrastructure is a critical part of their hybrid cloud strategies.

Another key finding of the report is that IT decision-makers anticipate that more than half of mission-critical workloads and 47 percent of data-intensive workloads will be run either on-premises or in an internal private cloud within the next two years. This does not mean that organizations have stopped investing in on-premises. Misha goes into this topic in greater detail during our discussion.

Another key finding is that companies that delay IT Infrastructure upgrades are opening themselves up to serious vulnerabilities.

Forrester surveyed 350 IT decision-makers to share their insights on developing a hybrid multi-cloud strategy. Some of the study highlights include

· the vital role of on-premises infrastructure

· why refreshes and upgrades are so important

· the best mix of on-prem cloud technologies.

INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS:

[00:34] Avrohom: IBM just published the findings of an IT Infrastructure study conducted by Forrester. Can you help us understand what are the current trends for IT Infrastructure spending?

Misha: At a high level, something that we found validated within the survey results was that it truly is a hybrid multi-cloud world, out there. People are increasing infrastructure investments on all aspects; not only with public cloud, which is really not a surprise to us but somewhat surprising is how much of an increase in investment companies are making outside of public cloud, in other infrastructures, such as on-premises as well as with private cloud services.

[01:44] Avrohom: What’s driving these conversations around the IT Infrastructure refresh?

Misha: When it comes to refresh, something that is driving the conversation is really about the hardware end of service. It’s like any other product that has a warranty expiring, that’s going to force the conversation on “Do we renew? Do we upgrade to a new product, or do we look at other solutions?” The end of service has always driven the upgrade and refresh conversations. What we’re also seeing, is those conversations are evolving to be more strategic in nature, because these are the times when companies need to revisit where their workloads sit. They may go through one of these refreshes every few years, and in a few years’ time, workloads have changed. They need to reevaluate and make sure that everything is working the most efficiently and the most cost-effectively. So, we’re seeing a change, in these conversations becoming more strategic.

[03:03] Avrohom: You mentioned the warranty, and as you know, as soon as your warranty expires, everything breaks down! As you know, many companies are delaying upgrading their infrastructure, for various reasons. Be it budget cuts, lack of resources, or something else. What are the ramifications to delaying an infrastructure upgrade?

Misha: It’s interesting because the fear of an end of service is everything — all of a sudden, things aren’t going to work anymore. However, that’s rarely the case. What ends up happening is that a company is very slowly opening themselves up to vulnerabilities; and very serious vulnerabilities at that. Some of the top concerns that become bigger risks when a refresh is delayed include security concerns. That’s a huge one. Also, you start experiencing performance delays which can have a ripple effect in impacting employee productivity and client experience. So, it’s kind of one of those slow boil instances where it doesn’t happen all at once, and it’s easy to kick that can down the road, but when that does happen, all of a sudden you’re waking up to a big problem.

[04:34] Avrohom: For sure! We talked about security, and not a day goes by when you don’t hear about data breaches. So, step one, you have to make sure that you’re running the latest software, which might require up-to-date hardware in order to properly secure your environment.

[04:54] Misha: Absolutely! Security doesn’t stop at the software level. Hardware has a security component, as well. So, many times, if from a hardware perspective, your data is secure, at that core level, then you’re reducing risk at the software, or at that peripheral level as well.

[05:21] One of the things the Forrester study talks about is that we’re seeing growth in public cloud spending across all types of workloads. Does this also refer to mission-critical workloads, or are there any kind of workloads where, perhaps, an on-prem or a hybrid cloud configuration might be a better choice?

[10:25] Avrohom: Where can people go to learn more about the Forrester IT Infrastructure study?

Misha: ibm.biz/Avrohom-HMC-Study

[11:02] How do people connect with you?

[11:36] Do you have any parting words of wisdom to share with the audience?

[11:40] Being consistent with IT Infrastructure refreshes can make a big difference with regards to preventing risks and threats to a company.

About the Author

Avrohom Gottheil is the founder of #AskTheCEO Media, where he helps global brands get heard over the noise on social media, by presenting their corporate messages using language people understand.

Avrohom presents his clients as Thought Leaders, which challenges his audience to reimagine their own mission and vision, delivering actionable insights, and leaving them passionate, motivated, and with the necessary tools to take immediate action.

Avrohom comes from a 20+ year career in IT and Telecom, where he helped businesses around the world install and maintain their communication systems and contact centers. He is a Top-ranked global expert (by Postcapes, Thinkers360, TheRise Global, and Onalytica) in the Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence, Cloud, and Cybersecurity, followed worldwide on Twitter, and is a frequent speaker on leveraging technology to accelerate revenue growth.

Listen to him share the latest technology trends, tools, and best practices for IoT, AI, Cloud, Cybersecurity, and more, on the #AskTheCEO podcast — voted as the #1 Channel Friendly Podcast 2019 by Forrester.

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