Multiple Clouds Are the New IT Norm

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Cloud deployment

All forms of cloud computing are maturing quickly. As IT organizations gain more confidence in their cloud capabilities, they are more open to adopting technologies such as microservices and IoT apps.

68% of organizations use some form of cloud, representing a 61% increase from last year; 22% either plan to or are investigating their options.

Use of public and private clouds is about evenly split at 52% and 54%, respectively. Organizations expect to increase on-premises private cloud spending by 40% over the next two years.

Nearly three-fourths (73%) of respondents say they have some form of a formal hybrid cloud computing strategy. More than half (55%) say they subscribe to multiple external clouds. Just under half (47%) say they use a mix of cloud and on-premise IT assets.

60% use a third-party hosting service; 42% say they have deployed one on-premise; and 40% say they remotely manage a private cloud hosted elsewhere. Meanwhile, 50% are running more than one type of private cloud computing environment.

Less than a third (31%) have implemented what they describe as either repeatable, managed and optimized cloud strategies. Yet the vast majority expect to improve these key performance indicators over the next two years.

Nearly three in 10 (29%) say they are using the cloud to drive IoT applications.

Almost six in 10 (59%) say OpenStack is an important element of their cloud strategy.

Just under half (48%) still characterize adequate security as an important inhibitor to cloud deployment.

Cloud computing initiatives are cited as driving anywhere from $2 million to $3 million in additional revenues due mainly to applications driving new customer acquisition. IT organizations also report lowering their costs by as much as $1 million.