Where is Hybrid Heading? - Views on exploiting multi-modal IT - Fujitsu
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TREND STUDY Where is Hybrid Heading? Views on exploiting multi-modal IT Author : Simon Abr ahams February 2 019 commi ssioned by
CONTENTS
Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 3
Key Findings ............................................................................................................................... 4
Profile of Hybrid IT Users ............................................................................................................. 5
Goals and Outcomes Driving the Rapid Rise of Hybrid IT ......................................................... 8
Transforming To Hybrid IT ......................................................................................................... 11
Plans for the Future ................................................................................................................... 14
PAC’s Opinion: Best Practice Recommendations for Hybrid IT ............................................... 19
Methodology ............................................................................................................................ 20
About Fujitsu ............................................................................................................................. 22
About Fujitsu in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and India ..................................................... 22
About PAC ................................................................................................................................ 23
Where i s Hy b ri d He a di ng? Vi ews on ex pl oi ti ng m ul ti -m odal I T – C opy ri ght teknowl og y G roup , 2 0 19
2
Where is Hybrid Heading? Views
on exploiting multi-modal IT
Simon Abr ahams – Senior Analyst, PAC (tekn ow logy Group)
February 2 019
INTRODUCTION
It is w ell-kn ow n in IT circles, and increasingly w ithin the Boar d Room, that
“The right mix of cloud
cloud technologies ar e blurring the boundaries of w hat i s possible w ith and traditional I T has
today’s systems and softw are. Public and priv ate cloud produc ts and made l ife easier and
more efficient. That mix
serv ices hav e already tran sfor med the w ay organizati ons choose to buy
looks different for every
and use IT, w ith flexible, con sumpti on -based charging an d remote deliv ery business, but ul timately it
models g aining huge trac ti on. Cloud-enabled soluti ons are cri tical optimizes systems
according to their unique
enablers of th e c urren t w av e of digi tal tran sformati on, prov iding the
requirements.”
platfor m for di sruptiv e technologies such as In ternet of Things (IoT), - Hybri d IT user
Machine Learning (ML) and Big Data. Cloud h as become an accepted par t
of the “new normal” of modern I T, an d w hile take- up w as initially str ongest among younger
organization s, i t i s now going from, streng th to strength in th e en terpri se. For many IT
depar tmen ts, c loud is seen as a w ay to create real competi tiv e adv an tage, fostering flexibi li ty,
enabling innov ation and pav ing the w ay to a mor e agi le enterprise.
At the same time, i t is not cost effec tiv e, an d in some cases not ev en possible, to mov e all
exi sting systems and data to c loud platforms. So for organ ization s w i th existing IT inv estmen ts (i .e.
the gr eat majori ty), c loud is being adopted in addi tion to existing I T, resulting in “hybrid I T”
env ironments, w hich in this surv ey w e defined as:
systems and ser vi ces that combi ne traditi onal IT (dedi cated, i nelasti c, often deli vered
from an organi zati on’s own faci liti es) wi th cloud-based IT (elasti c, on-demand, and often
deli vered remotely by a servi ce provi der fr om a shared platfor m)
More and mor e org anization s ar e en th usiastically embracing cloud solution s, and fusing them
w ith their existing IT, and in doing so, they ar e making hybrid a c en tral plan k of th eir IT strateg y .
As h ybrid I T systems bec ome mor e cri tical and more in terconnec ted, they c ombine tradi tional
IT, c loud-hosted IT, born-in-th e-c loud I T, and IoT syste ms deliv ered from the n etw ork edge.
At the same time, other organization s are concerned at th e complexi ty of managing multiple
cloud infrastr uc tur es, and by the tigh t in terconnec ti on s n ee ded at an applicati on lev el. Yet the
“do nothing ” option i s a high -risk g amble – for most en terpri ses, multi-c loud is cri tical to
embracing th e pac e of change n eeded to surv iv e in today’s business env ironmen t.
Thi s study i s in tended to pr ov ide inv aluable g uidance to help organizati ons succeed w ith thei r
hybrid I T plan s, ensuring th ey do so fully armed w ith th e lesson s learn t by already suc cessful
hybrid I T user s.
Where i s Hy b ri d He a di ng? Vi ews on ex pl oi ti ng m ul ti -m odal I T – C opy ri ght teknowl og y G roup , 2 0 19
3
KEY FINDINGS
• Hybri d IT is al ready mai nst ream, and growth conti nues t o accel erat e
• Hybrid I T seems set to grow and grow , driv en forw ard by significan t market momen tum.
Well ov er half the par ticipan ts in our surv ey deliv er the majori ty of th eir IT on c loud
serv ices and platfor ms, w hether public, priv ate or increasingly both.
• Fl exi bility has most i mpact on dri ving hybrid IT – cost is no l onger t he t op pri ority
• The top driv er for h ybrid IT is user demand for flexibi li ty and agili ty, often leading to
increasing ly multi -c loud hybrid I T combination s. Cost r educ tion is no longer a top
motiv ati on – higher priori ties are n ow business agi li ty, commercial flexibili ty together w ith
cyber sec uri ty.
• Hybri d IT really does enabl e agil e responses
• Thi s is mor e than j ust industr y hype: almost 8 0% of c urren t user s see th e abi li ty to r espond
rapidly as an impor tan t driv er of h ybrid IT, an d 4 0% see thi s as business cri tic al . Hi storically
IT has been a br ake on rapid change , and greater flexibi li ty i s a pow erful driv er behind
the irresi stible grow th seen in hybri d I T solution s.
• Experi enced hy bri d IT users see security as a demand-dri ver, and an opport unity
• Securi ty h as been a top c oncern for almost all type s of c loud or h ybrid IT infrastr uc ture
from day one. A new finding i s th at exi sting h ybrid I T users believ e that these solution s
deliv er better sec uri ty than in -house IT, and see thi s as a reason to do mor e I T in hybrid
env ironments, n ot less.
• Int egrating cl oud and t raditi onal IT i s t he t op headache
• Integrati on and orchestrati on are the biggest challeng es for organization s adopting
hybrid I T. The in terdependencies betw een tr adi tional applicati on s an d infr astr uc tures
hav e ev olv ed ov er many years - as par ts mov e to c loud, managing this c an be extremely
complex.
• Compli ance and Li cense w orries persist
• Concern s around r egulator y and licen sing issues are still v ery much fron t -of- mind to
curren t h ybrid IT user s. This highligh ts the reali ty that these are c omplex issues, an d th e
fear th at getting i t w rong can be seriously c areer- limi ting for indiv iduals r espon sible .
• Modest appli cat ion tw eak s greatly improve a move t o cl oud
• The most popular approach to mov ing applicati ons in to a hybrid IT env ironmen t inv olv es
making relativ ely minor change s to exi sting applic ation s . Thi s enables the application
w orkloads to benefi t from the flexibi li ty , scalabi li ty and automati on capabili ti es of th e
new agile platform .
• Huge expansi on expect ed i n pri vat e cl oud
• Curr en t h ybrid I T users expec t fastest grow th in their priv ate (single-c lien t) c louds, r ather
than on public (multi -c lien t) c louds. As user s gain experi ence and con fidence, there i s
now much greater acceptance that steady w orkloads and mi ssi on-cri tical systems/data
can be mov ed to c loud, and priv ate env ironmen ts may be the best fi t for thi s.
• Multi -cl oud i s becoming real , and users are pi cki ng wi nners
• Organization s planning to increase their use of c loud tech nologies expec t to r un multiple
differen t c louds for di fferen t purposes . Many user s under stand that and pic k a c loud that
is best fi t for each r equiremen t (by technolog y, data/application sen si tiv ity, applic ation
or geography) and th en stick w ith that choice , w orld-w ide.
Where i s Hy b ri d He a di ng? Vi ews on ex pl oi ti ng m ul ti -m odal I T – C opy ri ght teknowl og y G roup , 2 0 19
4
PROFILE OF HYBRID IT USERS
To pr ov ide con text to our finding s, this sec ti on pr ov ides a shor t analysi s of
the population of c urren t hybri d IT users addressed in thi s research study ,
Only a modest
6.5%
and the pathw ays they follow ed to embr ace h ybrid soluti ons.
The goal of the r esearch w as to under stand th e experienc e of c urren t user s
of h ybrid I T. Therefore, r esponden ts w ere pre- selec ted to only w ork w ithin of current hybrid IT
organization s already using c ombinati ons of both tradi tional and c loud IT. users plan to return
To foc us more specifically on more significan t user s of h ybrid IT, w e
to fully traditional IT
within the next 12-
exc luded organizati ons w hose c loud use w as limi ted to test and
24 months
dev elopmen t env ironmen ts . We also excluded organizations w hose c loud
env ironments w ere sti ll in pi lot or pr oof -of- concept ph ases, since these
responses w ould n ot reflec t th e tr ue v oice of experience .
Since the study aims to share th e experiences of org anizations that are succeedi ng w ith h ybrid
IT, w e exc luded respon den ts th at plan to ter minate their future use of hybrid w ithin 1 2 -24 mon th s.
Only 6.5 % of user s had plan s to discon tin ue th e use of hybrid I T ov er th e next tw o year s –
indicating that recen t r epor ts on so-called c loud r epatr iation are m ore of an echo-chamber
than indicativ e of major trends.
Where i s Hy b ri d He a di ng? Vi ews on ex pl oi ti ng m ul ti -m odal I T – C opy ri ght teknowl og y G roup , 2 0 19
5
CLOUD LEADS THE WAY IN HYBRID IT ENVIRONMENTS
The strong momen tum behind the ri se of hybri d IT has been felt
thr ough out the mar ket, and i t is no surprise that muc h of the hybrid
market i s foc used on c loud technologies for futur e g row th. Already
nearly h alf of all hybrid I T user s are deliv ering most of their IT using some
Most hybrid IT
mix of public and priv ate c louds. On top of thi s, ov er 1 0% of h ybrid IT
users already
user s are now almost en tirely cloud-deliv ered.
make more use
of cloud IT than
There is some regional v ariation her e:
traditional IT
• UK hybri d IT user s are most aggr essiv ely pro-c loud – almost three
quar ter s of h ybrid IT user s in UK are mostly or completely using
cloud .
• Spain i s the least cloud-cen tric coun tr y studied w ithin th e scope of thi s surv ey: tw o- thirds
of h ybrid I T user s in Spain are sti ll mostly using tradi tion al IT.
Thi s align s w ith kn ow n pattern s of techn ology acc eptanc e in Europe: user s in the UK are typically
among the fir st to main stream a new er technology, w hile user s in Southern Europe are often
much mor e con serv ativ e in th eir adoption h abi ts.
Where i s Hy b ri d He a di ng? Vi ews on ex pl oi ti ng m ul ti -m odal I T – C opy ri ght teknowl og y G roup , 2 0 19
6
CLOUD USE IS MATURING – MOST USERS HAVE OVER A YEAR’S EXPERIENCE
Most curr en t h ybrid I T user s ar e relativ ely experienced an d confi den t w ith c loud :
• Tw o thirds of h ybrid I T user s hav e more th an a year ’s experience of c loud.
• The Finance, Retai l and Manufac turing sec tor s hav e the most user s w ith at least three
year s’ c loud experience.
• Retail and Man ufac turing sec tors hav e the few est user s w ith less than a year of cloud
experienc e. Thi s suggests that these sec tor s embraced c loud en th usiastically in 2 016-17
- perhaps driv en by pressure to reduc e costs and increase agili ty - so that more recen tly
the cohor t of poten tial new c loud user s w as rather modest.
Where i s Hy b ri d He a di ng? Vi ews on ex pl oi ti ng m ul ti -m odal I T – C opy ri ght teknowl og y G roup , 2 0 19
7GOALS AND OUTCOMES DRIVING THE RAPID RISE OF
HYBRID IT
Thi s sec tion inv estigates w hat org anization s are seekin g to achiev e when they implemen t a
hybrid IT solution , and w hich are the most common goals. At the same time, w e explore the
exten t to w hich hybrid IT has deliv ered ag ainst original targets.
FLEXIBILITY AND SECURITY ARE DRIVING THE CONTINUED GROWTH OF HYBRID IT
Where i s Hy b ri d He a di ng? Vi ews on ex pl oi ti ng m ul ti -m odal I T – C opy ri ght teknowl og y G roup , 2 0 19
8The surv ey show s user demand for flexibi li ty is th e key driv er of the con stan tly -grow ing use of
hybrid IT. We see thi s in tw o separate w ays: sourcing fl exi bility (the abi li ty to quickly use differen t
supplier s based on di fferenc es in quali ty, performanc e, securi ty etc. ) an d in business fl exibilit y
(th e abi li ty to respon d quickly to ev ents).
Sourci ng flexibil ity i s a key driv er for most hybrid user s (Business Cri tic al or
of High Impor tanc e to 80% of responden ts). Thi s suggests th at user s ar e The goals of most
con tinuing to grow their use of h ybrid IT because of the speed and hybrid IT projects
conv enience of h ybrid serv ices. As the hybrid I T lan dsc ape bec omes
are business- rather
increasing ly multi -c loud, the ben efi ts of being able to ch oose th e “best tool
than IT-focused .
for th e job” and prov ision IT resources automatic ally hav e bec ome
uncon testable. This is also th e ar ea w here respon den ts saw the biggest The big wins are
impac t fr om hybrid I T: 42% saw a major i ncrease in sourci ng flexibili ty, w hile improved
44% repor ted minor i mprov emen ts. flexibility and
cyber security
The ability t o res pond qui ckly to ev ents w as almost as impor tan t to
responden ts, an d PAC h as observ ed that the n eed to accommodate an increased pace of
business ch ange is largely behind the inexorable grow th of hybrid I T. Organizati on s increasing ly
find themselv es under c ompeti tiv e pressure to mov e quic ker, and c annot allow their systems to
hold th em bac k. This i s increasingly driv ing user s to embrace hybrid I T soluti ons, w ith atten ti on
often foc used on th ose systems and softw are that are most time -c on suming to change.
Cyber security is also a major driv er for greater inv estmen t in
“There is a misconception
hybrid I T. This is significan t as many user s hav e ci ted sec uri ty as
that the risk of security
involved in cloud I T is huge, the primary reason for refusing to use hybrid I T soluti on s, for many
but the fact is our cloud year s. Thi s finding show s a shift in thinking, w ith man y users now
services are secured in a believ ing th at h ybrid I T can deliv er an improv ed lev el of securi ty
safe environment with
security as their top priority.” w hen compared w ith in-house IT.
- Hybri d IT user
When asked w hich outcomes had most impac t on their
organization, opinion s w ere spli t v ery c lear ly along j ob lin es:
• business deci sion-maker s see flexibi li ty (in sourcing, an d also in abi li ty to respond to
extern al ev ents) as most impac tful .
• IT deci sion- makers, w ith a v ery differen t set of r espon sibilities an d priori ties, see th e
greatest impac t of hybrid IT in cyber sec uri ty.
It is also in teresting to note that in this study, cont rolli ng IT spend w as a low er pri ority driv er th an
in prev ious year s. Whi le c on trolling cost i s alw ays goin g to be impor tan t to any business or
organization, this study high lights that the strong grow th i n hybrid IT i s no longer primari ly driv en
by cost reduc tion. In stead the study show s hybrid I T user s are more driv en by the need to respond
to th e rapid pace of business change – both th e need to respond and innov ate in respon se to
grow ing customer deman ds, an d also the need to adapt to a rapidly changing external
oppor tuni ties and th reats.
Where i s Hy b ri d He a di ng? Vi ews on ex pl oi ti ng m ul ti -m odal I T – C opy ri ght teknowl og y G roup , 2 0 19
9INTEGRATION AND ORCHESTRATION ARE BY FAR THE BIGGEST CHALLENGES
Hybrid I T i s by defini tion based on heter ogenous combination s of dissimi lar infrastr uc tures. While
integrati on betw een the differ en t platforms i s possible, i t is also c omplex and ti me-con suming,
w hich means th at in tegration should only proc eed w here thi s makes econ omic sen se. Man y
hybrid I T user s th at g ained their fir st c loud experience w ith Infrastr uc ture -as-a- serv ice, hav e now
embraced platform-as- a-serv ice as w ell. As organizati o n s con tin ue to seek in tegr ation s of their
databases, Customer Relation ship Managemen t ( CRM), En terpri se Resourc e Planning (ERP),
Human resource systems, etc., the complexi ty of managin g the in tegrated h ybrid platform grow s
exponen tially.
Thi s i s borne out by the surv ey, w hich show s that Int egrati on and orchest rati on is the major
probl em area for hybrid IT – almost half of the user s w e spoke to highligh ted this as a maj or
challenge. Only 10% of respondent s report ed no probl ems w ith in tegrati on an d orchestrati on. In
response, org anization s ar e increasingly looking for w ays to reduc e the sc ale of their in tegration
and orchestr ation challenges, through extern al suppor t (con sulting engagemen ts, managed
serv ices) and/or systems and tools designed to si mplify th is task.
Regul atory and compliance i ssues ar e an other v ery common ar ea of concern affec ting almost
90% of the hybrid I T user s PAC surv eyed, presen ting a significant diffi culty t o more t han a thi rd of
them. This really high ligh ts the uncer tain ty ar oun d w hat i s really needed to stay on the righ t side
of r egulation s: the General Data Protec tion Reg ulati on (GDPR) of c our se, but also reg ulation
w ithin finance, health care, pharma ceuticals an d e-c ommerce.
Almost equally challenging to user s is t he need t o manage software li censes correctly as
application s ar e mov ed in to h ybrid IT env ironmen ts. Many user org anization s ar e aw are of the
risk of significan t incremen tal lic ense fees th at may be triggered w hen mov ing to a v irtualized
and/or multi- tenan t env ironmen t, and getting i t righ t i s a major w orry.
Finally, cy ber security is still very demandi ng – sh ow ing w hat a complex i ssue c loud sec uri ty
really i s. Hybrid I T users regar d c loud soluti ons as mor e sec ure than DI Y, and recognize that c loud
sec uri ty is difficult. PAC br oadly endorses this v iew , w hich says much about th e grow ing maturi ty
and sophi sticati on of the h ybrid / c loud IT mar kets.
Where i s Hy b ri d He a di ng? Vi ews on ex pl oi ti ng m ul ti -m odal I T – C opy ri ght teknowl og y G roup , 2 0 19
10TRANSFORMING TO HYBRID IT
Thi s sec tion looks at h ow organization s choose to addr ess applicati on tran sfor mati on as they
con tinue to inv est in to their h ybrid IT env ironments. For most org anization s, the pr ocess of
tr ansfor ming to hybrid I T is v ery much a journey. Typically ther e w ill be some systems or data th at
organization s prefer to keep on tradi tion al infrastr uc tures, w hether for reason s of polic y, securi ty
or performanc e. Outside of th ese systems, organizati on s usually decide app-by-app h ow and
w hen to inv est into modernizing their in frastr uc ture and applicati on env ironmen ts:
• The zero-effor t option is to remain on tradi ti onal I T. Whi le this inc urs no tran sformati on
costs, the managemen t and operati onal costs of tradi ti onal I T ar e non - triv ial.
• The next easiest solution i s to mov e the applic ation almost unchanged in to a c loud
env ironment. Such “c loud h osted” solution s eli minate th e cost an d effor t of r unning in -
house data cen ter s, but do n ot on their ow n make th e applicati on s more agi le.
• The most effor t and benefi t fr om c loud deploymen t occ ur s w hen an application i s w ritten
(or re-w ritten) for c loud. These “c loud -nativ e” or born-in the-cloud application s are able
to take full adv an tage of th e flexibi li ty of the und erlying i nfrastr uc ture.
Our sample of experienc ed user s prov ide v aluable g uidance that a mixed approach is likely to
w ork best, tr ansfor ming to a dynamic mi x of differen t infr ast r uc tur e env ironmen ts:
Where i s Hy b ri d He a di ng? Vi ews on ex pl oi ti ng m ul ti -m odal I T – C opy ri ght teknowl og y G roup , 2 0 19
11THERE IS NO SINGLE “BEST WAY” TO DEPLOY HYBRID IT
Which approaches hav e you taken to cloud adoption ?
Acr oss all sec tor s, th e most popular meth od of mov ing applicati on s to h ybrid I T env ironmen ts i s
to make minor ch anges on ly – a nuanced appr oach .
Thi s process of replatfor ming ensures that w hen exi stin g applic ation s are mov ed to a hybrid
infrastruc ture, they ar e ac tually able to make use of the new platform’s agile capabi li ties. Whi le
thi s inev itably inv olv es some cost / resourc e commi tmen t, it does unlock the benefi ts of flexibi li ty,
scalabi li ty, an d automati on that are the g oals of hybri d IT in th e fir st place.
The next most popular appr oach i s the pur e "lift an d shift" appr o ach, making almost no changes
to th e application . Thi s re-hosting process is most typical w hen either the organizati on does not
hav e th e ti me, resourc es or exper tise n eeded for a fuller softw are re-w rite or th e application i s
not cri tical enough to w arran t any greater effor t on opti mization. While thi s is seen as a shor t-
cut to c loud, the reduced time and effor t has a cost in terms of reduced agi li ty and automation
in the resulting soluti on .
The least popular appr oach is to engage in a complete application rew rite. Replatforming and
refac toring allow s an applic ation to be optimized as far as possible for the target c loud/hybrid
env ironment, ther efor e deliv ering the fullest benefi ts of cloud . How ev er, our surv ey sh ow s th at
most org anization s seek to av oid thi s lev el of cost, time and effor t.
It i s impor tan t to note th at these three appr oaches are not mutually exc lusiv e – and in fac t man y
organization s w ill use all three , depending on the applic ation .
Where i s Hy b ri d He a di ng? Vi ews on ex pl oi ti ng m ul ti -m odal I T – C opy ri ght teknowl og y G roup , 2 0 19
12TECHNOLOGY LOCK-IN IS A RISK THAT MUST BE MANAGED LIKE ANY OTHER
Wri ting an application for a specific hybri d IT env ironmen t makes best use of the specific benefi ts
of th e associated cloud (s). At the same ti me, w riting for a specific env ironmen t inev itably
creates techn ology lock-in, since the applicati on is c losely tied to the sing le targ et platfor m. We
asked organization s that w rite / re -w rite some applications from zero h ow they go abou t
mitigating this risk of loc k-in.
The most common solution (repor ted by w ell ov er half of r esponden ts) i s to use tools that abstrac t
managemen t aw ay fr om the under lying infrastr uc ture , ev en though this i s usually incompatible
w ith full access to the en tire se t of platform features an d func ti ons.
The altern ativ e appr oach used by almost half the org anizati ons th at refac tor applic ation s i s to
adopt technologies that ar e w idely used acr oss multiple cloud v endor s, often based in open
source. User s an d v endors are increasing ly embr acing the use of c on tainer s (usually Docker),
deliv ered using a c on tainer managemen t framew ork (usually Kubernetes) as a w ay of impr ov ing
application por tabi li ty. Thi s deliv ers the modernized application as a set of small, self -c on tained
softw are modules, w hich are quicker an d more efficien t to operate than mon oli thic application s.
Thi s results in highly flexible softw are, w hich is as far as possible segregated fr om i ts env ironmen t,
meaning that i t i s as por table as possible betw een infra struc tures.
In summar y, the surv ey show s that notw i thstanding legi timate concern s ar oun d technolog y loc k-
in, there ar e tw o separate appr oache s that ar e w idely used today to mi tig ate these risks. As w ith
any technolog y (ev en open source) there is alw ays a risk th at once h eav ily inv ested in a
platfor m, i t w ill be diffic ult to change i f/w hen needed . Ulti mately thi s is a c lassical ski lls and
resourcing risk, and sh ould be pr oac tiv ely managed along side oth er ri sks to minim ize th e
probabi li ty o f negativ e impac t on the user organization .
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13.
PLANS FOR THE FUTURE
Thi s sec tion explores the future plan s of today’s h ybrid I T market, testing w hether th e experience
of using hybri d IT i s driv ing user s tow ards a mor e cloud -en abled future, and how quickly change
is being driv en forw ard for differen t types of solution .
The graph below show s t hat most organizati ons pl an to embed cl oud much more deeply ov er
the next three year s:
When i t comes to futur e plan s, our population of h ybrid IT user organization s w as v ery pro - cloud:
• Almost 70% pl an to change the mix of t heir hybri d environment , t o reduce t he proporti on
of t raditi onal IT, and 20 % plan to eliminate almost all traditi onal IT ov er the next three
year s.
• A quar ter expec ts n o change, and only 7% expect t o do less wit h cl oud .
Thi s i s typical of how the c loud market i s ev olv ing: th e c urren t appeti te for c loud c on tinues to
gain momen tum, and notw ith standing the v ery high lev els of h ybrid I T penetrati on, grow th looks
set to fur ther accelerate .
Where i s Hy b ri d He a di ng? Vi ews on ex pl oi ti ng m ul ti -m odal I T – C opy ri ght teknowl og y G roup , 2 0 19
14ROCKETING GROWTH IN PRIVATE CLOUD
To dri ll dow n into planned areas of gr ow th , w e probed th e plans of
organization s ai ming to ev olv e their hybrid I T tow ards increasing ly flexible Most hybrid IT users
solution s, asking w hat types of solution they depend on to deliv er thei r that are trying to
futur e grow th . reduce their use of
tradional IT are
The respon ses sh ow th at I T user s now expec t to foc us their fastest expan sion focused on rapid
of c loud use in priv ate c loud solution s. PAC believ es th is suggests many growth of a
organization s initially embr aced c loud on public platforms, since these specific solution:
offer th e low est risk and minimum commi tmen t oppor tun ity to experi men t
and build con fidence. Private
These organization s n ow appear ready and keen to "cloudify" their mor e Infrastructure
core I T assets, beginning in a low er -risk w ay w ith priv ate c loud solution s, Cloud
then mov ing on to c loud desktop soluti ons.
The next biggest area of foc us is in Desktop-as-a-S ervi ce (DaaS). Ev en though these serv ices
hav e a generally low lev el of v isibi li ty, this i s an area of rapid grow th for a full one third of
responden ts planning to do more w ith c loud. This foc us is likely due to the compelling ec onomic s
of c urren t Desktop serv ices, c ombined w ith the muc h faster and more reliable Inter net
connec tiv ity that i s now generally av ailable, the conv enience of mobi le access to desktop apps ,
and finally the fac t that Desktop-as-a-Serv ice func ti onality has impr ov ed greatly in the last fiv e
year s.
Where i s Hy b ri d He a di ng? Vi ews on ex pl oi ti ng m ul ti -m odal I T – C opy ri ght teknowl og y G roup , 2 0 19
15HYBRID IT USERS ARE SEEKING SIMPLE SOLUTIONS
The surv ey show s that organizati ons are keen to embr ace multi- cloud as par t of hybrid I T, and at
the same ti me they seek si mplici ty by selec ting a single preferred c loud for each type of
w orkload – for example, a single infrastr uc tur e public c loud prov ider (ev en if deliv ered from
multiple zones/r egions), a sing le priv ate c loud soluti on (ev en if hosted in multi ple Data Cen ter s),
a single PaaS platfor m etc. Organization s often hav e additi onal more speciali st r equiremen ts –
perhaps for a Database-as-a-Serv ice (DBaaS) c loud, or a Softw are-as-a-Serv ice (SaaS) projec t
managemen t platfor m – an d these are typically added as poin t solution s. The complexi ty of
making these systems w ork together i s c onsi derab le, creating a natur al barrier on the maximum
number of di screte c louds any sing le organization plans to use.
90% of respon den ts in th e tran spor t and public sec tor s pr efer to hav e a sing le supplier for each
type of cloud. Whi le this n umber falls in other v er ticals, th e ov erall pattern i s the same: betw een
2/3 and 3/4 of respon den ts on ly plan to selec t a sing le supplier for each type of c loud.
SYSTEMS INTEGRATORS ACCELERATE HYBRID IT TRANSFORMATION
Ov erall, i mprovi ng t he speed and chances of a successful delivery ar e top reason s for user s to
consider par tn ering w ith a serv ice prov ider for c loud an d tradi tion al IT deliv ery. This high ligh ts
the grow ing complexi ty of h ybrid deploymen ts , as usage and in tegrati on grow . Cloud
Where i s Hy b ri d He a di ng? Vi ews on ex pl oi ti ng m ul ti -m odal I T – C opy ri ght teknowl og y G roup , 2 0 19
16env ironments are increasing ly multi-dimension al, in ter connec ted and in terdependen t, and
many user s turn to serv ice prov iders for help in man aging this c omplexi ty.
Thi s i s common acr oss the v er ticals studied, w ith the exception of the Tran spor t sec tor , w hich
plac ed a much higher i mpor tance on the Opex financial proposi tion (i.e. ren t th e serv ice instead
of buy the system) an d on allev iating ski lls gap s.
AI AND IoT WILL CONTINUE TO GROW RAPIDLY IN THE ENTERPRISE
Man y of the most promising and di sr uptiv e new techn ologi es in I T use c loud as a foundation .
Among h ybrid I T user s, the hottest ar eas of future increased use are Ar ti ficial In telligence (AI) /
Machine Learning and the In ternet of Things , follow ed by con tainer s an d bloc kchain .
More th an tw o- thirds of organization s plan to use AI/ML i n future, reflec ting the h uge poten ti al
of these serv ices to impr ov e both c ustomer experience an d oper ating efficiencies. Whi le today’s
AI applicati on s are often qui te li mi ted (w ebsi te chatbots , etc.), r esponden ts are righ tly optimi stic
about the technolog y’s future poten ti al. Already a rang e of func ti ons is av ailable fr om larger
cloud serv ices prov ider s that can be used in multiple sec tor s – for example, text- to- speech,
tr anslati on, image recogni tion and sen timen t analysi s. AI/ML w ill enable organizati ons of all types
to prov ide a more personalized and eng aging customer experienc e , w ith much mor e acc urate,
timely an tici pation an d sati sfac tion of c ustomer s’ un met n eeds , deliv ered much more efficien tly.
Where i s Hy b ri d He a di ng? Vi ews on ex pl oi ti ng m ul ti -m odal I T – C opy ri ght teknowl og y G roup , 2 0 19
17AI/ML i s a good example of a set of c apabi li ties that today i s largely “bui lt for cloud”. Thi s i s
mostly to do w ith how the se serv ices w ork – they need data from w hich to learn, and increasingly
data i s both gen erated and held in th e c loud. The maj or c loud platforms h av e responded b y
dev eloping out- of- th e-box serv ices th at specific ally prov ide IoT and AI/ML func tion s. Thi s mean s
that, w hile self-hosted alternativ es are possible , the ease of use and cost adv an tages of the
cloud- deliv ered capabi li ties means that for man y hybri d IT user s, AI/ML and IoT are becoming
exten sion s o f c loud serv ices. This in turn i s driv ing demand for c loud serv ices, since these ar e
increasing ly j ust seen as th e easiest place to dev elop an d deliv er AI/ML and IoT solution s.
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18PAC’S OPINION: BEST PRACTICE
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR HYBRID IT
Soli d research an d preparation maxi mize the chances of success. F or man y organizati ons
that today run v ery tradi tion al I T, the best w ay to pr epare for h ybrid IT i s to first get some
experienc e w ith a standalone public or priv ate c loud solution.
Getting the best fr om hybrid IT inv olv es going beyond ph ysical- to-v ir tual tr ansi ti ons, building
out flexible solution s w hich integrate tradi tion al IT, public and priv ate c louds, c loud-h osted
application s, c loud-nativ e apps, an d poten tially ev en edge-based solution s. The
tr ansfor mational aspec ts of hybrid on ly materialize for org anizati ons that are w illing to inv est
the effor t to use the se new serv ices in new and agi le w ays.
Expec t and prepare for the in tegr ation challenge to grow . Ev eryone finds h ybrid I T
integrati on a str uggle. If no curr en t team member s h av e prior experience w ith c loud, plan
to sec ure some shor t- ter m exper ti se (in ternal sec ondment or extern al con tr ac tor s), or else
prepare to buy-in the necessary professional an d/or man aged serv ices.
Human fac tor s are often ov er looked but must be car efully managed w ithin hybrid I T
projec ts. When organization s cr eate “digi tal” teams to ch ampion c loud IT, other IT staff can
feel relegated to a lesser ro le. Equally in frastr uc ture- foc used subj ec t matter exper ts may
feel threatened by the ease of use of cloud , w hich could appear to put their exper t status
at risk.
Don’t try to do i t all your selv es. Cloud and h ybrid I T are differen t from tradi tional IT, and
require differen t appr oaches. Work w ith tr usted supplier s w ith a tr ack r ecord of suc cessful
hybrid deliv ery to help nav igate the hybrid IT tran sfor mation landscape – and r emember
that hybrid I T i s more about business outcomes than indiv idual technologies th emselv es.
Clari ty on the requiremen ts of the projec t i s essen ti al, but rare. Much c oncern around
compliance for hybrid I T stems from a lack of c lari ty about w ho is respon sible for w hat,
w here data needs to reside, h ow it has to be sec ured, etc. - and of c ourse data
managemen t is much more complex w hen data i s held across multiple platfor ms. Once the
requiremen ts are clear, the stepping stones to achiev e compliance w ill be much easier to
identi fy.
Cyber sec uri ty i s recognized by c urr en t h ybrid I T user s as an area w here con tr ary to pr ev ious
perception , h ybrid IT deliv ers MORE robust pr otec ti on of systems and informati on th an
prev ious tr adi tional IT. At th e same ti me, experienc ed user s r ecognize cloud and hybrid
sec uri ty as a complex space that presen ts gen uine challenges.
Pick the righ t tools for the job and av oid “one size fi ts all” thinking . There are many c loud
platfor ms, serv ices and solution s av ailable, both public and priv ate , w ith priv ate c loud
show ing fastest grow th in our surv ey . Since each or ganizati on has a unique set of
requiremen ts an d resourc es, i t i s nor mal to end up w ith a hybrid I T solution.
Create a blend of differen t public an d priv ate c louds to sui t your indiv idual needs,
and selec t an in tegration par tn er both c apable of brin ging these together – and
w ithout any sing le preferred c loud platfor m.
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19METHODOLOGY
During Aug ust an d September 20 18, PAC in terv iew ed 4 01 business and IT decision- makers of
organization s that are already using hybrid I T, as defined in the in troduc ti on.
All responden ts w ere ei ther IT deci sion -maker s w ithin their organization (in w hich case they w ere
selec ted for their r espon sibili ty for both c loud and tr adi tional I T) or el se business deci sion -maker s
(in w hich case they w ere selec ted bec ause c loud i s cri ti cal to th eir role).
Respon den ts w ere from an ev en mix of mid- sized and larger org anization s (on ly organizati on s
w ith at least 50 0 employees took par t in the study) and w ere selec ted main ly from the Financial
Serv ices, Retail, Man ufac turing, Tran spor t and Public S ec tor v ertic als.
In ter ms of geographic scope, the sample w as ev enly div ided in to respon den ts fr om Belgi um and
The N ether lands, Finlan d and Sw eden, Franc e, German y, India, Italy, Spain, and th e UK.
The ai m of the study w as to understand th e experience of exi sting hybrid I T user s, to better g uide
organization s that hav e yet to embrace combination s of cloud and tradi ti onal IT.
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20DISCLAIMER, USAGE RIGHTS,
INDEPENDENCE, AND DA TA PROTECTION
The creation and distributi on of thi s study w as suppor ted by F uji tsu Ltd.
For mor e infor mation , please v isit w ww .pac -online.com.
Discl aimer
The con ten ts of thi s study w ere compiled w ith the great est possible care. How ev er, no liabili ty
for their acc urac y can be assumed. Analyses and ev aluations reflec t the state of our know ledge
in Oc to ber 2018 and may change at an y ti me. Thi s appli es in par tic ular, but not exc lusiv ely, to
statemen ts made about th e future. N ames and designations that appear in thi s study may be
registered tr ademarks.
Usage ri ght s
Thi s study i s pr otec ted by copyrigh t. Any r eproduc tion or disseminati on to thir d par ties, inc luding
in par t, requires th e pri or explici t authorizati on of F uji tsu Ltd. The publicati on or di sseminati on of
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Fuji tsu Ltd had n o influence on the analysi s of th e data or the pr oduc tion of the study.
The par ticipan ts in the study w ere assured th at the in for mation they pr ov ided w ould be treated
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no indiv idual surv ey data w as passed to Fuji tsu Ltd or any other third par ty. All par ti cipan ts in the
study w ere selec ted at r andom. There i s no connec tion betw een the pr oduc tion of the study
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21ABOUT FUJITSU
Fuji tsu is the leading Japanese in formation an d communication
technology (I CT) compan y, offering a full range of technology
produc ts, soluti ons, and serv ices. Appr oxi mately 140,000 F uji tsu people
suppor t c ustomer s in more than 100 c oun tries. We use our experience
and th e pow er of ICT to sh ape the future of society w ith our c ustomers.
Fuji tsu Limi ted (TSE: 6702) repor ted c onsoli dated rev en ues of 4.1 tri llion
yen (US $39 bi llion) for th e fiscal year en ded Mar ch 31, 2 018. F or more
informati on, please see h ttp://w ww .fujitsu.com
ABOUT FUJITSU IN EUROPE, THE
MIDDLE EAST, AFRICA AND INDIA
Fuji tsu promotes a Human Cen tric In telligen t Society, in w hich
innov ation i s driv en by th e in tegrati on of people, information an d
infrastruc ture. In th e Eur ope, Middle East, India and Africa region
(EMEI A), our 27,000- str ong w orkforc e is c ommi tted to Digital Co -
creation, blending business exper ti se w ith digi tal tec hnolog y and
creating new v alue w ith ecosystem par tner s an d c ustomer s. We
enable our c ustomer s to digi tally tr ansfor m w ith connec ted technology
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22ABOUT PAC
Founded in 197 6, Pierr e Audoin Con sultan ts (PAC) is par t of teknow logy
Group, the leading in dependen t European r esearch and con sulting
firm for the softw are, IT serv ice s, an d digi tal tran sfor mation industr y.
PAC U K – a te kno wlo gy Gr ou p C ompan y
teknow log y Gr oup offer s i ts c ustomer s comprehen siv e suppor t serv ices 15 Bowli ng Green La ne
for the ev aluation, selec tion , an d optimizati on of their softw are London
EC1R 0B D
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Tel .: +44 207 251 2810
and acc ompanies them in opti mizing th eir sourcing an d inv estmen t i nfo-uk @p ac -onli ne.c om
strategies. As such, teknow log y Group suppor ts ICT deci sion -makers in www.pa c-onli ne.c om
their digi tal tran sformation journey.
Fur ther, teknow logy Group assi sts softw are and I T serv ices pr ov iders in
optimizing their strategies and g o- to- market appr oaches w ith
quan ti tativ e and quali tativ e analyses as w ell as c onsulting serv ices.
Public organization s and in sti tution s equally base the dev elopmen t of
their I T policies on our repor ts.
Capi talizing on 4 0 year s of experience, based in 8 coun tries (w i th 17
offices w orldw ide) and w ith 1 40 employees, teknow logy Group
prov ides i ts exper ti se ev ery year to more than 1,500 I CT decision -
maker s and the operational div isions of larg e en terpri ses as w ell as mid -
market c ompanies and their prov ider s. tekn ow logy Group con si sts of
four branches: Ardour Consulting, Le CXP, BARC (Business Application
Research Cen ter), and Pierr e Audoin Con sultan ts (PAC).
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23Where i s Hy b ri d He a di ng? Vi ews on ex pl oi ti ng m ul ti -m odal I T – C opy ri ght teknowl og y G roup , 2 0 19
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