Lack of Consistent Infrastructure Operations Hinders Cloud Capabilities

Nutanix has announced the findings of a new   report    analysing key challenges and opportunities with hybrid cloud adoption, infrastructure and operations. While most see hybrid cloud as the   ideal IT model, the report showed that many struggle to adopt it — with 70% of organisations believing that their transformation is taking longer than expected. However, the goal is clear - nearly all respondents (95%) think their organisation would benefit from an optimal hybrid implementation providing consistent IT constructs and operations across multiple clouds, eliminating many of the challenges they currently face ranging from operational silos to staffing shortages.

As businesses everywhere struggle to adapt to a new reality, one thing is becoming even clearer: flexibility is crucial to business success. Whether enterprises need to leverage public Cloud to deliver   remote desktops    quickly, consolidate disaster recovery sites, move workloads to a private cloud to stave off  public cloud capacity concerns, or take advantage of on-demand capacity bursting, the current global situation has emphasised the need for an adaptable IT infrastructure for many businesses. But flexibility no longer means using both public and private Clouds — it means having a consistent experience, tooling and operational practices across multiple clouds to dramatically simplify the ability to move applications and data to the most appropriate cloud environment.

“As companies continue to adopt remote working models, there will be an increased need for adaptable IT infrastructure. While public Cloud has offered many benefits, such as increased agility and efficiency, more of India’s enterprises are realising that it’s not a one-size-fits-all-solution and are embracing hybrid cloud as their infrastructure of choice. The survey highlights that, along with interoperability, enterprises are looking for a consistent experience across their different cloud environments. Hybrid cloud provides this,” said Balakrishnan Anantharaman, VP & MD, Sales, India & SAARC, Nutanix.

The report, commissioned by Nutanix and created by independent market research firm Vanson Bourne, analyzed key challenges businesses are currently facing when managing both public and private cloud infrastructures. The company surveyed 650 IT decision-makers from multiple industries, business sizes and geographies in the Americas; Europe, the West Asia, Africa, Asia-Pacific and Japan (APJ) regions.

Additional findings include:

• Public Cloud Alone is Not Always the Answer - Public Cloud revolutioniSed the IT industry, offering more agility and operational efficiency. And while it’s ideal for some applications and workloads, it’s not for others, leading businesses to embrace a hybrid infrastructure. According to the research, the majority of respondents have concerns about running business-critical applications, those most vital to their business, on public Cloud, specifically around reliability (75%), portability (73%), and cost (72%). Additionally, some are simply unable to move their business-critical applications, due to complexity or cost. For example, the need to re-architect or re-platform applications (75%) and the complexity of the migration (71%) are top concerns preventing respondents from porting applications.
• Hybrid Widens the IT Skills Gap -  Although many businesses struggle to find enough qualified IT talent, the issue grows when looking for professionals who can manage both a public and a private Cloud infrastructure, as currently the two environments require different skill sets. Most organisations (88%) are facing challenges in ensuring their IT staff has the necessary skills to manage a hybrid IT infrastructure and over half (53%) see this as a top concern.
• Skill Gaps Create Silos and Inefficiencies -  Given the different skills required to manage public and private Cloud infrastructures, businesses often need to rely on different teams creating silos, something that nearly all (95%) respondents encountered. Most importantly, they often impact the bottom line, something even more concerning at a time when many businesses are focused on optimizing resources. Nearly half of respondents identified resource sprawl (49%), an increase in costs (45%), and/or a waste of resources (43%) as concerns.
• Portability is a Must and Not Just For Applications: - For most businesses (88%) software licensing is a key aspect of a hybrid IT infrastructure, as many have run into difficulties surrounding licensing (58%) or vendor lock-in (58%) when moving to public cloud. Additionally, nearly two thirds (65%) are willing to consider subscription licensing for their IT infrastructure.

Businesses are looking for flexibility. It’s no longer a choice between private and public, or between different public Cloud providers. Organisations need a solution providing consistent experience, tooling and operational practices across multiple clouds to address many of the challenges and operational inefficiencies they’re currently facing. An optimal hybrid Cloud environment provides the consistency they need to take advantage of the full flexibility of multiple Clouds, whether private or public.