Cloud Adoption Shifts to Hybrid, Multicloud IT Architecture

November 03, 2021 - C-suite executives are shifting away from using a single public or private cloud in favor of a hybrid, multicloud IT architecture, according to new research from IBM. The pandemic accelerated digital transformation for 59 percent of surveyed organizations and made cloud adoption a priority for many.

IBM surveyed over 7,000 executives across 28 industries and found that only 3 percent of respondents reported using a single private or public cloud in 2021, compared to 29 percent in 2019, prior to the pandemic.  

In healthcare, cloud adoption continues to increase. A recent study suggested that cloud adoption may play a role in preventing data breaches and ransomware attacks. However, there are still significant health data security concerns that come along with cloud adoption.

Cloud adoption naturally requires organizations to engage with a third-party cloud vendor to facilitate the migration and manage data. Third-party risk management considerations must be taken into account with every vendor that a healthcare organization engages with.

IBM’s research revealed that 79 percent of respondents reported that vendor lock-in is a significant obstacle to improving business performance in their cloud estate. Having a multicloud environment may help to counter some of the top concerns surrounding cloud adoption.

Over a third of IBM’s survey respondents said that data security being embedded throughout the cloud architecture is crucial to successful digital initiatives. The research suggested that there is significant value associated with using a multicloud IT architecture.

Despite its advantages, many executives were concerned about the lack of interoperability among public and private clouds, a scarcity of funding, industry-specific regulatory compliance requirements, and data privacy.

Cloud adoption can help to safeguard data when implemented correctly. However, more than a third of respondents indicated that reducing cybersecurity risks was not among their top IT investments.

IBM observed a significant shift in responses and cloud adoption tactics since the pandemic. Hybrid cloud capabilities, such as moving data from cloud to cloud, are extremely useful in helping organizations recover from security incidents and managing workloads.

The research suggested that the hybrid, multicloud architecture may ease security and interoperability concerns while driving value and efficiency for organizations across all industries.

“Ideally, all these moving parts become greater than their sum by playing roles in an operating model—specifically, in an operating model for converting digital opportunities into digital products, and then converting digital products into business value,” the study explained.

Regardless of what cloud architecture an organization may choose, IBM urged business leaders to focus on security and privacy. Organizations should determine where their critical workloads live and scrutinize who and what has access to them. In addition, it is vital that organizations take regular inventory of their IT environment to determine which workload and applications would benefit from being on the cloud, and which are better for on-premises use.

Organizations should take a careful and tactical approach to cloud adoption and consider what options will bring the most value to their business.