2014 has been a great year for the cloud – hybrid cloud and software-as-a-service (SaaS) deployments have become more readily adopted as solutions that cater to a wide range of companies; organizations are getting better at placing controls and restrictions on employee cloud use, limiting the harmful implications of shadow IT; and technology advancements are continually making data storage more efficient, effective and affordable.
And as great as this year has been, it doesn’t look like cloud adoption will be slowing down any time soon. As highlighted by a recent Gartner survey, enterprises report a 46 percent adoption growth of private cloud over the next two years. That is nearly twice the rate (24 percent) of public cloud adoption over the same time period.
So what does this mean? It means that the organizations that haven’t yet integrated into the cloud are finally understanding the benefits and looking toward a hybrid solution that can deliver a full range of flexibility, scalability and security. In an article from Information Age that looks at the report in more detail, it says, “…few organizations will completely migrate to SaaS and [instead] will live with a mix of SaaS and traditional on-premises application deployment models, with a focus on integration and migration between different deployment models.”
Some other key findings and conclusions from the report that I found particularly interesting: 40 percent of respondents said overall cost reduction was the main driver for cloud investment, with innovation and agility as other top reasons; CIOs are focused on using the cloud to achieve a modern, innovative IT environment, while non-IT business leaders most appreciate the cloud’s affordable price point; and cloud-hosted applications continue to grow as alternatives to internally managed systems.
While making changes to your organization’s IT infrastructure can be daunting, here are a few things to consider as we head into the New Year:
Explore All Options: When deciding on a cloud solution, it’s important to remember that one size does not fit all. Many factors should come into play when selecting a solution that best fits the needs of your individual organization, including the type of data you’re storing, how quickly and often you need to access it and the level of security necessary to meet particular regulations, such as HIPAA.
Plan for the Future: Regardless of the solution you end up selecting, you need to make sure it is able to scale with you as your organization’s data requirements continue to grow and change. Implementing a storage solution that meets your needs now and in the future is crucial to continued business success.
Pick the Right Partner: Unless you’re an organization of one, it’s unlikely that you’ll be able to meet your cloud and storage needs by going it alone. When selecting an IT and data storage provider, ensure they understand your goals, offer the services necessary to deliver reliable uptime and backup and will work with you to implement a solution that meets each one of your data storage and business requirements.
How is your organization implementing the cloud and other data storage solutions to meet your business goals in the year (or years) ahead? Share your thoughts with us here.
And if you would like to discuss how Markley Group and Markley Cloud Services can help you meet those goals, give us a call at 617-451-6464 or send us an email and our team of experts is happy to help.
