We hear it everywhere – the economy is uncertain, and in the face of rising inflation and interest rates, businesses need to adapt. The common refrain that we hear from business leaders is, “how can I do more with less?” How can IT organizations continue to modernize and create a competitive advantage, while continuing to support the business at the same time?
To help us answer this question, we asked Forrester senior analyst Tracy Woo to share Forrester’s research and insights on changing cloud trends and strategies that organizations are using to continue modernizing their infrastructure in the face of economic headwinds. The full webinar is available to view here.
Why Multicloud Matters
Organizations have always wanted access to best-in-class capabilities from any provider that can help them innovate, and they want the flexibility to choose the right path to meet their objectives. Nearly three out of four decision-makers agree it is critical to align their technology with their business needs.¹
Cloud delivers this flexibility for organizations. They can quickly peruse and procure a variety of solutions, from infrastructure services to applications delivered via SaaS. The ability to scale resources on-demand is quite important as well. Organizations reveled in this experience, and public cloud quickly became a key tool in the arsenal of businesses as they digitally transformed.
Now, most organizations are relying on three or more cloud environments to meet their business needs. Forrester research shows that 93% of firms are planning to implement, or have already adopted, a multicloud strategy.²
Multicloud Benefits and Challenges
Multicloud offers options to organizations, giving them the freedom to right-size their IT investments to their business needs. However, the reality is that each cloud environment tends to function as a silo with its own set of tools and procedures. Consequently, multicloud can quickly spawn an array of challenges.
We have previously discussed some common multicloud challenges and how they can impact organizations. Forrester has also conducted research on business requirements for infrastructure. Some of the challenges that impact organizations the most include:²
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- 86% of respondents reporting trouble with security vulnerability
- 83% citing difficulty understanding risk exposure
- 82% mention challenges in deploying resources in a controlled way
- 80% report issues managing compliance requirements
These challenges mean multicloud can cause complexity and make it even harder to match business needs with investments. How can businesses leverage the cloud experience everywhere and right-size their IT while also overcoming some of these challenges?
IaaS is an Answer
One way firms are making some forward progress with multicloud is by focusing on delivering Infrastructure-as-a-Service to their dedicated IT environments. This delivers the cloud experience to wherever businesses have their workloads and simplifies the process of matching technology and business needs. Put simply, it combines the agility of the public cloud and the control of the private cloud, creating a truly unified experience.
Customers have told us the benefits of IaaS include augmenting existing staff, reducing overprovisioning and enabling self-service. The Forrester research highlights several other benefits of bringing the cloud experience “down to the ground,” including:¹
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- 52% of respondents mention increased security
- 49% highlight increased agility and control
- 40% an improved ability to budget for IT spend
- 40% flexibility in configurations
The key theme to these benefits is that organizations have more control over their IT investments and ensuring those investments directly address business needs. Whether it’s a better understanding of security postures or a better understanding of how much an organization is spending each month, bringing IaaS to dedicated IT environments can help firms do more with less.
Dell delivers the ease and agility of the cloud experience with more control over applications and data through Dell APEX, our portfolio of subscription-based technologies. With APEX, we are making it easier to bring IaaS to wherever you need it – in the data center, in a colocation facility, or even out at the edge.
To learn more about how you can better match your investments to your business needs, please watch the full webinar and read the research report linked above. You can also discover more about how Dell APEX drives business value for your organization.
1 Forrester Opportunity Snapshot: A Custom Study Commissioned by Dell, Intel and VMware, October 2021.
2 Forrester Opportunity Snapshot: A Custom Study Commissioned by Dell
