TechCentralTechCentral
    Facebook Twitter YouTube LinkedIn
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn YouTube
    TechCentral TechCentral
    NEWSLETTER
    • News

      Where to next for Dimension Data

      5 July 2022

      The bonfire of the NFTs

      5 July 2022

      Moves afoot to fix Eskom’s debt problem

      4 July 2022

      Audi South Africa to offer free connectivity upgrades

      4 July 2022

      Shock fuel price increase announced

      4 July 2022
    • World

      Bitcoin hints at a bottom – but it may be different this time

      5 July 2022

      China, US war of words erupts over lunar missions

      5 July 2022

      Tether fails to calm jittery nerves

      4 July 2022

      EU to impose wide-ranging new rules on the crypto industry

      3 July 2022

      Crypto hedge fund Three Arrows files for bankruptcy

      3 July 2022
    • In-depth

      The NFT party is over

      30 June 2022

      The great crypto crash: the fallout, and what happens next

      22 June 2022

      Goodbye, Internet Explorer – you really won’t be missed

      19 June 2022

      Oracle’s database dominance threatened by rise of cloud-first rivals

      13 June 2022

      Everything Apple announced at WWDC – in less than 500 words

      7 June 2022
    • Podcasts

      How your organisation can triage its information security risk

      22 June 2022

      Everything PC S01E06 – ‘Apple Silicon’

      15 June 2022

      The youth might just save us

      15 June 2022

      Everything PC S01E05 – ‘Nvidia: The Green Goblin’

      8 June 2022

      Everything PC S01E04 – ‘The story of Intel – part 2’

      1 June 2022
    • Opinion

      South Africa can no longer rely on Eskom alone

      4 July 2022

      Has South Africa’s advertising industry lost its way?

      21 June 2022

      Rob Lith: What Icasa’s spectrum auction means for SA companies

      13 June 2022

      A proposed solution to crypto’s stablecoin problem

      19 May 2022

      From spectrum to roads, why fixing SA’s problems is an uphill battle

      19 April 2022
    • Company Hubs
      • 1-grid
      • Altron Document Solutions
      • Amplitude
      • Atvance Intellect
      • Axiz
      • BOATech
      • CallMiner
      • Digital Generation
      • E4
      • ESET
      • Euphoria Telecom
      • IBM
      • Kyocera Document Solutions
      • Microsoft
      • Nutanix
      • One Trust
      • Pinnacle
      • Skybox Security
      • SkyWire
      • Tarsus on Demand
      • Videri Digital
      • Zendesk
    • Sections
      • Banking
      • Broadcasting and Media
      • Cloud computing
      • Consumer electronics
      • Cryptocurrencies
      • Education and skills
      • Energy
      • Fintech
      • Information security
      • Internet and connectivity
      • Internet of Things
      • Investment
      • IT services
      • Motoring and transport
      • Public sector
      • Science
      • Social media
      • Talent and leadership
      • Telecoms
    • Advertise
    TechCentralTechCentral
    Home»Sections»Cloud computing»Learning to survive – and thrive – in a multi-cloud world

    Learning to survive – and thrive – in a multi-cloud world

    Cloud computing By Rowen Grierson5 April 2022
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email

    The word “multi-cloud” is so often used in conversation today, you might think that just about everyone has a handle on it. In fact, very few do. The concept of the multi-cloud is complex and disparate, and while it promises flexibility and agility, it can be an exhaustive and expensive exercise. But the bottom line is that it isn’t going anywhere – so business needs to adapt, or just become irrelevant.

    In a recent IDC InfoBrief, we asked customers how they are not just surviving but thriving in a multi-cloud world. The results are telling, showcasing that while some are approaching a multi-cloud model with caution, there is no doubt that this is and will be a model for the future. Read the report here.

    Let’s talk digital

    Investment in all things digital is up, not just to drive innovation but to help fuel research and development projects and instil artificial intelligence into an enterprise. According to IDC, 50% of respondents say they are already navigating the path to digital, while 57% say they will pursue a digital in all things strategy in the next five years.

    This is important when considering the future of the cloud because digital needs are often met in the middle by cloud infrastructure requirements. It also shows a shift in the future spending goals of the business, where IT budgets are going to shift from “tin” more aggressively to software and devices.

    Transformation meets data and security

    Suppose you ask any IT team why they want to follow a path to digital transformation. The conversation always leads to digital data assets, the ability to harvest data better, and then use that data to serve the customer. The discussion will then inevitably swing to security, which goes without saying.

    But while the promise of data is enormous, many challenges meet the business looking to unlock data across a multi-cloud environment. Disparate environments and the lack of centralised management create a sticky mess in the middle where data is either lost or left behind because of the management headache to centralise it.

    In the IDC report, respondents were asked to rate the level of investment they anticipated making in a series of technologies. Naturally, security still trumped the rest with 53%, but surprisingly it was on an even footing with cloud-based infrastructure and applications at 53%. In the third position are data and analytics. In summary, cloud, security and data will move front and centre of all business requirements in the future.

    Off premises but private

    In South Africa, the hyperscalers have taken a while to catch up. But now that most of them have a presence or at the very least are offering a local service, their popularity is growing. What this has done (inadvertently) is provide the perfect catalyst for growth in private cloud real estate, either on premises or off premises at a cloud provider.

    The numbers in the IDC InfoBrief echo the sentiments of South African businesses. While globally the cloud remains a re-platforming process for most IT teams and doesn’t support a one-size-fits-all approach, it is the preferred route, as non-cloud solutions are becoming a smaller part of the overall application portfolio.

    What is even more encouraging is that users’ use of private cloud solutions far outweighs the use of public and non-cloud infrastructure and applications. The report also shows how public and private cloud adoption is a two-speed race where both are running entirely in tandem.

    This highlights that businesses understand the value of the cloud but are still fairly sure they want their private cloud to walk hand in hand with their public cloud investments. So yes, we are moving to a multi-cloud adoption model, but the infrastructure investment in the cloud is still firmly a hybrid one.

    Pros and cons

    When asked what the most significant benefits clients see from deploying a multi-cloud strategy, respondents still cite innovation and the delivery of new products and services as the number one factor. In close second is business transformation, and third is reducing vendor dependency and lock-in. The latter is fascinating and adds fuel to the fact that vendors need to evolve from unwieldy licensing and services models to embrace modern subscription-based ones.

    Conversely, when asked about the challenges facing them in a multi-cloud world, the main operational one is the ability to establish consistent security, access control and compliance. Again, we find ourselves back at security.

    In second place, users are frustrated with keeping up with ever-changing cloud offerings and pricing models. Third, they also find optimising staff and resources a challenge — something that all South African businesses can relate to as they struggle to combat the ongoing brain drain and skills gap.

    Ultimate goals

    The report is filled with interesting pearls of wisdom and how customers use their IT budgets to enable their cloud goals. We have only touched on a tiny percentage of them, so I encourage you to download the full report and use it as a helpful reference when talking cloud to the C-level executives in your organisation.

    To close, let’s state what globally IT leaders feel are their top IT goals. They are security, improving the performance of systems/applications, cost control/lowering costs and improving customer experience. Where do these sit on your business compass?

    • Rowen Grierson is regional sales director at Nutanix sub-Saharan Africa
    • This promoted content was paid for by the party concerned
    IDC Nutanix
    Share. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email
    Previous ArticleEverything you need to know about the Huawei nova 9 SE
    Next Article Covid state of disaster ends after two long years

    Related Posts

    Increased flexibility with Dell Precision Mobile Workstations

    5 July 2022

    The 5 secrets of customer experience in the cloud era

    5 July 2022

    We must look to the past to design the contact centre of the future

    5 July 2022
    Add A Comment

    Comments are closed.

    Promoted

    Increased flexibility with Dell Precision Mobile Workstations

    5 July 2022

    The 5 secrets of customer experience in the cloud era

    5 July 2022

    We must look to the past to design the contact centre of the future

    5 July 2022
    Opinion

    South Africa can no longer rely on Eskom alone

    4 July 2022

    Has South Africa’s advertising industry lost its way?

    21 June 2022

    Rob Lith: What Icasa’s spectrum auction means for SA companies

    13 June 2022

    Subscribe to Updates

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    © 2009 - 2022 NewsCentral Media

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.