CIOs to cloud providers: We don’t trust you

Many Australian organisations aren’t confident that their cloud service providers can help them move workloads between multiple environments, which is slowing the uptake of hybrid cloud.

This was a key finding of a study – It’s a Hybrid Cloud World, Strategies for Cloud Success – completed by Forrester Consulting on behalf of NTT Communications ICT Solutions.

Almost all (88 per cent) of the 150 CIOs and senior IT decision makers in Australia said they found it challenging to move workloads between cloud service providers to avoid vendor lock-in, something they prefer doing.

In fact, 38 per cent reported that moving workloads was so difficult, it had jeopardised the transition and disrupted business.

These factors have hindered the uptake of hybrid cloud infrastructure with only 12 per cent of organisations surveyed having used this model for a year or longer.

This compared just over half that had used a public cloud solution and 47 per cent who had used a private cloud service. Around four in five respondents(78 per cent) reported not having used a hybrid model at all.

“The lack of trust and lack of relevant services to make hybrid cloud work is resulting in only a limited set of possible workloads actually moving into the cloud as a whole,” Monte Davis, CEO of NTT Communications ICT Solutions told CIO.

“We are seeing far fewer kinds of workloads in cloud environments because of this lack of trust.”

Davis said it was understandable that many CIOs had not adopted hybrid cloud given the network, application and internal IT challenges.

He said CIOs often feel that integrating cloud offerings with their current infrastructure is too costly and complex, not realising there are solutions that enable them to simplify and centralise their IT infrastructure.

He said organisations were comfortable moving certain applications and services to the public cloud but as soon as there is a requirement to run a combined or hybrid cloud, people get nervous.

He expects that over the next 12 to 18 months, more cloud service providers focusing on specific niches will complement their offerings with those from other cloud providers.

“The cloud needs of Australian businesses have evolved – while cost and speed of deployment are still important factors, many organisations now find that simplified IT provides a platform for greater agility,” he said.

NTT Communications ICT Solutions was created in November last year following the integration of NTT Australia, Frontline Systems and its subsidiary Harbour MSP.

Its customers include online vehicle reservation service, Thrifty, which runs a hybrid cloud model; and DMM, an online forex trader and broker, that is using public cloud services.

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