Originally published at the IBM Center for Applied Insights blog.
Susanne Hupfer, IBM Center for Applied Insights, March 20, 2016
To learn how and why companies are adopting hybrid cloud and how they’re benefiting, IBM surveyed 500 IT decision makers at organizations worldwide that have implemented hybrid environments. Improving productivity is the number one goal, as organizations aim to offload IT management complexity to the cloud. A close second is improved security and risk reduction.
Whether they arrived at hybrid cloud deliberately or find themselves in a hybrid state due to the organic growth of their IT infrastructure, these organizations largely believe their IT future is hybrid. Seven in ten report they’ll always have a blend of traditional IT and cloud. The mix will continue to shift as companies grow their use of private and public cloud to manage dynamic business priorities.
To examine different approaches to hybrid cloud, we segmented organizations based on the maturity of their hybrid management capabilities and whether they’re reporting competitive advantage from hybrid cloud. The Frontrunners are organizations that are gaining competitive advantage through hybrid cloud and are managing their environment in an integrated, comprehensive fashion for high visibility and control (e.g., through a single dashboard).
These leading organizations are achieving foundational outcomes with hybrid cloud—efficiency and productivity gains, including cutting costs and maximizing the value of existing infrastructure—at a higher rate than other organizations. They’re also ahead on using hybrid cloud to fuel digital business growth, including product and service innovation and expansion into new markets.
But the leaders really outpace the others in using hybrid cloud to pioneer next-generation initiatives, such as cognitive computing and the Internet of Things, which have the potential to shape new digital markets and business models.
