MANAGED SERVICES cloud
proposition that will meet the overall needs of an organisation. Cloud is a means of accessing IT as a service which sits alongside any on- premise capability and does not necessarily replace it. Whilst Service Models have become more familiar in terms of Software, Platform and Infrastructure-as-a-Service as well as the associated deployment models which we define as being Public, Private and Hybrid cloud for the purpose of this research. The reality is that experience, expectation and common sense all point to the fact that any one organization will access IT in any combination of on-premise and in-cloud, and through any combination of Service and Deployment models. To this end it is essential that organisations are able to clearly assess for each project or application which scenario best achieves their objectives and how that fits within their wider and long term IT strategy.
In order to understand the best fit of cloud to any given opportunity it is important that organisations are able to make a practical assessment of the criteria that will help define the options possible. Notable examples of factors that influence choice can be summarised as: £ Nature of application/solution being evaluated £ Uniqueness of process or data needs £ Relevant Industry regulation £ In-house skills available to organisation £ In-house operational capacity available to organisation £ Scalability and predictability of solution over time £ Capital expenditure limitations £ Time to Market considerations £ Level of integration of solution with other business applications £ Efficiency of solution vs available network capacity
The following example from the research highlight the nuances that impact perception and practical adoption models which we will explore in more detail in the next paper.
Market messaging today tends to over-play vendor specific messaging about platforms or, too often, paint cloud as a panacea. Whilst neither approach are necessarily incorrect in very specific circumstances, they downplay or risk ignoring the practical considerations facing organisations adopting cloud services and can lead to a more cynical view of claims made and therefore, fail to embrace the reality that cloud is part of an IT strategy and not often the whole IT strategy.
Conclusion
Adoption of cloud services has continued healthily in 2011 up 10 per cent by volume since the original research, with penetration of organisations now at 53 per cent with one or more cloud services. From the latest research a number of key conclusions can be drawn: £ Adoption of cloud services in 2011 has been faster in smaller private companies and public sector organisations.
£ Adoption is now at almost parity regardless of size of organisation or private:public sector reflecting a realisation of the cloud mantra that it offers benefits that are available to any organisation as the barriers to entry and adoption are comparatively low compared to other technological innovations. This also points to a wider market opportunity in 2012 for both customer adoption and service provider delivery.
£ Satisfaction with cloud services (where they have been adopted) remains extremely high, growing 2 points to 96 per cent of those organisations using cloud services. As we saw in the previous research this is coupled to the claims that the majority of current users (73 per cent) will expand their use of cloud into other areas of their IT operations in 2012. This simultaneous move to a new
type of technology enabled business model is a rare occurrence and reflects the significance that cloud offers any organisation to reconsider its approach to leveraging IT to drive flexibility, agility, competitive advantage and cost restructure.
£ While the first wave of adoption continues to be primarily driven by end user requirements for the flexibility that the cloud service and deployment models provide, it is the pursuit of ongoing cost savings that is the main benefit that is derived and becomes the driver for the second wider phase of adoption.
£ The most common cloud services adopted remain: email; back-up / disaster recovery; storage; and webhosting services. While this by no means defines “the cloud”, it gives a very helpful indication of how the cloud is most popularly and effectively accessed by end users. Interestingly this reflects more about IT back office services than the higher profile often given to vertical specific business applications, confirming that IT departments are also looking to make the cloud delivery part of their wider IT strategy to embrace on-premise and cloud solutions overall. A fact directly confirmed by the majority of participants. Collaboration services have grown in prominence over the period between the two research projects and are expected to grow further still in the year ahead.
£ End users take into account a range of key factors in considering fitness of cloud services to fulfil a solution need including the nature of application: sensitivity of data; regulation; resourcing; capital and integration needs. A consequence of this is that any single company will likely utilise multiple cloud service and deployment models over time alongside an on-premise capability. The industry needs to work to ensure portability of data and interoperability in a secure and trusted form continues to advance in their product strategy to ensure they are able to allay fears of proprietary lock in.
£ There are several areas of concern that end users require clarity and comfort on in making a decision for cloud services. Most notable are those relating to data in regard to its security, privacy and sovereignty. Whilst there has been marginal improvements in the sensitivity of these issues between the research projects, it is still the significant majority of organisations primary concern regardless of size or sector. Whilst this is in part an educational issue it is also evident that service providers can do more to be transparent about their services, their data centre standards, security practices and jurisdiction.
£ The reality that cloud services are part of an IT strategy is still clearly evidenced in the fact that even companies that have not yet adopted cloud do formally consider cloud as a viable solution as and when projects are evaluated. The breadth of service and deployment options enable organisations to embrace cloud as an extension of their on-premise capability or as segmentation for solutions that are not critical to operate in-house.
The research re-confirmed that cloud computing is becoming mainstream, that it is not an all-or-nothing approach and can be consumed in multiple service and deployment models in any given organisation. What is more, there are major opportunities for expanding the cloud market alongside an on-premise capability, by enabling organisations that have yet to adopt or by encouraging existing users that they can confidently take even more data and IT functionality into the
cloud.In closing, when asking the participants in the research “Do you see value in working with CSP’s who sign up publicly to an industry Code of Practice that is independently audited over those that have no public accountability?” The overwhelming majority, 79 per cent, said yes, reinforcing the Cloud Industry Forum’s focus in driving adoption of the industry Code of Practice.
February 2012 I
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