Enterprise Cloud Computing Grows Up

We’ve all watched the tremendous evolution of the cloud from software-as-a-service (SaaS) to low-cost, outsourced IT Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) to what is now widely referred to as enterprise cloud computing. Over time, barriers due to concerns over security and production-ready capabilities have been overcome, and drivers like the increasingly mobile workforce and requirements for speed-to-market have led to more widespread adoption of cloud among enterprises today.

A recent report from Verizon entitled: “State of the Market: Enterprise Cloud 2016,” finds that 84% of respondents say their use of cloud has increased in the past year.   It also states that “companies are combining public, private and on-premises infrastructure to create highly sophisticated, customized environments.”

Here are a few other key findings from the report:

• 69% of respondents say that the cloud has enabled them to reengineer one or more business processes.

• 68% of respondents say they must invest in cloud/SaaS to achieve their business priorities.

• Around half of companies say that they will be using cloud for at least 75% of their workloads by 2018.

• More than 1/3 of organizations have already adapted their business model using cloud; for example, many are creating new customer experiences or radically changing their cost base.

Additionally, the report identifies three personas that represent the various approaches companies are taking for cloud adoption – the skeptics, the natives and the pragmatists.

Skeptics

Skeptics are reluctant to adopt cloud computing often due to corporate attitudes toward risk management, governance, or capital investment. Some industries, like financial services, are home to more skeptics than others.  I discussed some of the barriers to entry for financial services companies in this recent blog: “Concerns About Security and Compliance Slow Financial Services Adoption of Cloud.”

Natives

These are companies that don’t know of a world without the cloud. Referred to as cloud natives, they are either cloud-first or cloud-only. This doesn’t just mean small businesses or start-ups.  Everything from spreadsheet to enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer relationship management (CRM) and payroll software is available in the cloud on a subscription basis and many companies are choosing to buy services rather than servers.

Pragmatists

This group represents a majority of organizations that are taking a measured approach, striving to create an enterprise-class infrastructure using standard components from cloud.

Regardless of which category your company fits in, it’s important to implement effective “Cloud Ops”…a combination of tools and best practices that enable IT departments to serve up the cloud to their community without choking off the cost-effectiveness and agility of cloud-based infrastructure and solutions.

As the trend towards cloud customization continues, CIOs and IT managers should become partners in the process to ensure a secure cloud experience by embracing new generation cloud automation technologies and tools.

If your business is already moving towards mainstream adoption of cloud computing, cloud automation tools can take the burden off of the IT department by automatically monitoring cloud resources to identify and fix issues as they arise.