A recent study conducted by Dimensional Research found that the majority of enterprise IT decision-makers plan to deploy multi-cloud architectures within the next 12 months.
The report, which surveyed over 650 IT leaders in eight countries, discovered that 77 percent of respondents were planning on implementing multi-cloud architectures and are interested in utilizing interconnected colocation data center environments because of their increased reliability, security and performance. Researchers also found that 74 percent of participants expect to have larger budgets for cloud services in the coming year.
The study revealed the importance of interconnection to enterprises considering the cloud. Almost 90 percent of respondents indicated a need for interconnection to sufficiently meet their cloud performance objectives, either through direct connection to cloud services or high bandwidth interconnection to other clients. This strong desire for interconnection may be driven by the popularity of multi-cloud storage. According to the report, 74 percent of participants are preparing to implement a multi-cloud migration strategy, moving critical applications to a cloud platform maintained by a third-party service provider.
Enterprise cloud adoption is becoming increasingly popular for a number of reasons. Below are some of the biggest advantages to using cloud-computing in business:
1) Cost Efficiency: Installing and eventually upgrading software for all of the computers and mobile devices in an enterprise can be extremely expensive; it can also leave organizations vulnerable to security breaches and loss of competitive advantage. With the cloud, upgrades and security patches are included in the subscription price, so the newest and most secure version is always available without additional cost. Service is also extremely scalable, allowing businesses to pay only for the amount of computing power necessary and add extra capacity for a reasonable price later on. This enables a company and its cloud service to grow in tandem and always be in lock step.
2) Improve Accessibility/Mobility: With the cloud, documents and files are available to employees from any cloud-enabled device, improving remote working opportunities and staff collaboration. That accessibility enhances organizations to enter new markets and increase global presence, as the same platform used in the office is available to staff anywhere in the world and foreign communication can be done for a low cost over the Internet.
3) Ease-of-Use: Cloud infrastructures, especially those maintained by third-party providers, are dramatically simpler to create and manage than traditional IT environments. Any necessary configuration changes are taken care of by the service provider, and hardware and software installations are practically eliminated. Additional services or features can also be quickly and easily made available, reducing time to market and improving ROI.
4) Security: With the ability to access documents from any Internet-connected device, the likelihood of employees using external hard drives or USB devices that can be lost or stolen is greatly reduced. Data security is also improved in the cloud, as third-party providers are almost certainly more comfortable with cybersecurity than an individual enterprise would be, as keeping files safe is one of the provider’s main areas of focus.