451 Research: Act now to improve business success by moving core applications to the cloud
Our research indicates that 38% of organizations have a ‘cloud first’ policy in place, meaning cloud must be considered an option every time new workloads are deployed. There are two main motivations for moving to the cloud. Some enterprises do so in search of incremental business improvements, such as reduced cost and faster time to market through selective transition to cloud deployment models. Others are fully committed to a digital transformation strategy to enable agile application and infrastructure design that gives technology the ability to redefine markets.
Whatever the motivation, we believe the time is ripe for moving traditional applications to the cloud. Not doing so could well mean failing to provide the kinds of digital services the market and customers demand. Conversely, enterprises that seize the moment will gain the speed and agility that will propel the success of their digital business strategies.
The trend of moving traditional applications and workloads to the cloud is apparent.
Our research shows that deployment of all types of workloads in the cloud continues on a steady upward climb across industries and enterprises of all sizes. Currently, 41% of workloads run in the cloud, and we expect that to rise to 60% within just two years – growth of nearly 50%. Our research further shows that cloud can and often does offer a long list of business and economic benefits, including cost savings on hardware and lower staff expenses; reductions in IT complexity; dramatically increased scalability; faster time to market; expanded global reach; and improved reliability and uptime. There are also potential economic risks such as unforeseen migration and application rewrite costs. But it is our view that these pale in comparison to the benefits both types of enterprises (those in search of business improvements and those committed to a digital transformation strategy to enable agile application and infrastructure design) can reap from carefully hatched cloud strategies.
Additionally, the technologies, tools, processes and skills for moving all or parts of traditional applications to the cloud have been well developed by various service providers. In fact, to mitigate risk, the service providers can often provide a verifiable economic, cost-saving justification for doing so, notwithstanding the arguably more important digital benefits.
Our recommendations for enterprises thinking about moving traditional applications to the cloud include:
- Develop a digital business strategy. In doing so, your enterprise will be better able to exploit cloud capabilities and leverage them for competitive differentiation.
- Closely assess your inventory of applications. Evaluating the technical and business requirements of each is critical in determining a logical roadmap and deciding which applications to move first.
- Detemine the skill sets needed to move traditional applications to the cloud as seamlessly as possible. In many cases, service providers are best equipped to provide not only the skills but also the tools and procedures for doing so.
- Carefully analyze the security considerations of the traditional workloads that you’re considering moving to the cloud. Security will be a major factor in deciding the right cloud deployment model.
- If your enterprise is contemplating big changes such as capacity expansion, hardware/software refresh or datacenter overhaul, think first about reducing some of the expansion and placing it in the cloud.
- In some highly regulated areas, such as healthcare and finance, where regulations at times explicitly prohibit public cloud usage, you need to know to which data such rules apply.
Whether yours is an enterprise leveraging cloud as a key element of digital transformation or an enterprise primarily seeking to reduce costs via cloud deployments, there are several things to consider to optimize the cloud experience.
Download the full report: Act Now to Improve Business Success by Moving Core Applications to the Cloud
About 451 Research
451 Research is a preeminent information technology research and advisory company. With a core focus on technology innovation and market disruption, we provide essential insight for leaders of the digital economy. More than 100 analysts and consultants deliver that insight via syndicated research, advisory services and live events to over 1,000 client organizations in North America, Europe and around the world. Founded in 2000 and headquartered in New York, 451 Research is a division of The 451 Group.