In 2021 it has become clear that the single cloud provider approach is dead. A recent IBM study supported this claim as only 3% of global respondents reported using a single private or public cloud in 2021, down from 29% in 2019. Further evidence of this trend is contract cancellation cloud JEDI of the US Department of Defense, which impacted the cloud industry last summer and disrupted the status quo, highlighting that the single-vendor approach to cloud was a thing of the past.
The implications of vendor lock-in have become crystal clear: lack of innovation, concerns about security and reliability. COVID-19 laid the groundwork for accelerating digital transformation and companies began to rethink the value of keeping apps on-premises, becoming more aware of which apps go to the cloud and which stay.
The case for a hybrid and multicloud approach has never been clearer. So what’s next? We’ve set our sights on 2022 to explore what this year could hold for the world of hybrid cloud.
Businesses will strategically migrate workloads as they embrace modernization
As organizations continue their hybrid and multicloud journeys, their focus will turn to determining which workloads go to the cloud. At the beginning of this process, organizations used to move simple workloads and are now considering the migration of more complex and mission-critical workloads as they modernize . In the coming year they will have to take an inventory of their IT environments to select which workloads and applications are best suited for the cloud and which should remain on-premises.
The future of cloud computing: Security will take center stage as cyber threats grow
One of the many reasons organizations are increasingly adopting a hybrid and multicloud approach is to mitigate the risk of vendor concentration as cyber threats grow. With data protection a priority, businesses will also prioritize security designed with a single point of control to gain a holistic view of threats and mitigate complexity in the coming year. As well as organizing for 2022, companies must also remember to prepare for a longer-term future. As quantum computing grows stronger and poses potential risks, such as the ability to quickly break encryption algorithms and access sensitive data, businesses need to look beyond short-term threats, thinking 10, 15 and 20 years view.
Data Governance Readiness: The Rise of Industrial Clouds
As organizations grapple with security and compliance, 64% of executives surveyed from the C-Suite of the same study agree that industry-related regulatory compliance is a major hurdle. Meeting security and compliance requirements is especially important for highly regulated industries such as the financial services industry and government agencies. As these industries strive to meet the demands of digital-first customers, cloud adoption is evolving toward specialized clouds. Industry-specific platforms will be increasingly adopted to help them balance innovation with strict compliance protocols.
Although no one knows exactly how the year 2022 will unfold, we can be sure that the last two years have been a turning point for digital transformation. Around the world, companies are accelerating their digital transformation journeys – adopting new business models, moving workloads to the cloud, and digitizing their operations. We expect hybrid cloud to continue to play a critical role in driving the innovation needed to build resiliency and open up new opportunities for organizations in the future.