Some businesses are more geared up to take advantage of the opportunities available in a hybrid cloud than others. In February 2018, Forrester’s report “Hybrid IT Strategy Insights” (PDF) revealed a gulf in benefits being experienced by businesses operating in a hybrid cloud depending on whether the business had developed a comprehensive hybrid strategy from the ground up, or whether their hybrid environment had developed organically without any prior planning.
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Ten Benefits Experienced by Businesses Operating in a Hybrid Cloud Environment |
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Selected Benefit |
With a Hybrid Strategy |
Without a Hybrid Strategy |
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Improved Reliability and Redundancy |
62% |
40% |
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Faster Customer Updates |
62% |
34% |
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Higher-Quality Data |
58% |
50% |
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Faster Access to Emerging Analytics |
55% |
35% |
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Delivered New Customer-Facing Software Faster |
53% |
32% |
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Reduced Infrastructure Complexity |
46% |
28% |
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Reduced App Complexity |
44% |
24% |
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Prevention or Reduction of “Shadow IT” |
41% |
24% |
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Lowered Dependency on Legacy Infrastructure |
41% |
29% |
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Lowered Software Costs |
39% |
32% |
What are the Challenges for Businesses Operating in a Hybrid Environment?
Forrester’s report is useful for establishing the reasons why the hybrid cloud is so popular, but also for demonstrating the importance of deploying workloads in public and private clouds with a comprehensively developed hybrid strategy. Forrester also found businesses lacking a hybrid strategy – or businesses who hadn’t stuck with their strategy – encountered greater difficulty dealing with the challenges of operating in a hybrid environment. First, we’ll list the challenges identified by Forrester:
- Security
- Integrations with Legacy Systems
- Budgetary Challenges
- Managing Workloads
- Retraining Existing Staff
- Monitoring Performance and Costs
- Compliance Challenges
- Re-Architecting Applications
- Issues with Change Management
- Moving Too Fast or Too Slow for the Business
- Lack of In-House Skills
- Lack of Automation
- Hybrid Cloud Governance
- Inefficient Process Mapping
The following table illustrates the leading ways in which businesses overcame the challenges. Note again the gulf between businesses with and without a hybrid cloud strategy – especially those who were able to refocus the direction of their strategies in order to better address the challenges they encountered. What’s important to note in this table is that many businesses will have replaced existing toolsets, brought in skilled employees (and outside consultants), and automated manual processes prior to migrating on-premises workloads to a public cloud.
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How Businesses Resolved the Challenges they Encountered in their Hybrid Cloud Environment |
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Solution |
With a Hybrid Strategy |
Without a Hybrid Strategy |
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Replaced Existing Toolsets |
59% |
35% |
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Brought in Hybrid-Skilled Employees |
58% |
41% |
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Refocused Direction |
52% |
26% |
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Merged Developers and Operations to One Team |
50% |
35% |
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Reallocated People, Processes or Technology |
49% |
36% |
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Brought In Outside Consultants |
47% |
39% |
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Automated Manual Processes |
41% |
36% |
The Hybrid Cloud Offers Plenty of Benefits, but Plan Ahead First
The key takeaway from discussing why the hybrid cloud is so popular is that businesses who plan ahead and develop a comprehensive hybrid strategy experience more benefits and are better prepared to resolve any challenges they encounter.
