One global study has elicited responses indicating a preference for full-hybrid, multi-cloud platform technology over single-platform alternatives.
To drive business transformation and to unlock value, businesses in the region are increasingly planning to invest in hybrid multi-cloud platform strategies and capabilities.
The Institute for Business Value (IBV)—part of IBM—recently surveyed over 6,000 global executives across industries to gain an in-depth understanding of their organizations’ current use of hybrid cloud, multi-cloud and their approach to multi-cloud management.
Of particular note, survey respondents from Singapore said that 18% of IT spend is allocated to cloud, and they planned to increase the share of spend on hybrid cloud from 42% to 50% by 2023.
The majority of their cloud budgets was being allocated to hybrid cloud platforms even as their public cloud spend was set to reduce from 46% today to 40% by 2023.
The report asserts that globally, most industries will exhibit growth in the number of clouds deployed, which can go up to 10 clouds particularly in insurance, telecommunications and retail. The rationale is that these industries will continue to expand multiple cloud deployments in the next three years.
Further, respondents said that the value derived from a full hybrid, multi-cloud platform technology and operating model at scale is 2.5 times the value derived from a single platform, single cloud vendor approach. The platform approach was cited as accelerating value with scale, as far as the survey data was concerned.
Tech trends observed:
- Globally, 64% of advanced cloud companies recognized the need for enterprise transformation and application modernization to go hand-in-hand, 1.9 times higher than the respondents from Singapore
- Globally, 68% of businesses on advanced cloud journeys were building an open-source cloud platform, compared to 48% of Singapore respondents
- The survey report identifies businesses that recognize the strategic importance of cloud computing, which comprise 13% of the global survey respondents, 1% of which are from Singapore, as ‘Cloud Aviators’
- Organizations in Singapore expected to be using at least 10 clouds from a growing number of vendors by 2023 but only a quarter of businesses had a holistic multi-cloud management strategy in place
- 33% of executives in Singapore said they were seeking cloud management platforms for improved visibility and control of their cloud costs
- Enterprises in Singapore were seeking an application development platform that can run on any cloud; and workloads that can execute seamlessly across multiple clouds
Commented Lee Hui Li, Managing Partner, Global Business Services, IBM Services (ASEAN): “The adoption of cloud has been a central feature in developing new, digitally-driven business models. Interestingly, the findings show that hybrid multi-cloud is the fundamental enabler of an organization’s operating model, helping them to embark on a journey to become a ‘cognitive enterprise’ of the future. Further, hybrid cloud enables improved business performance and greater ROI. This is proven in the instance of leading businesses that have successfully achieved demonstrable competitive advantage through robust hybrid cloud management and governance platform.”
In Singapore, Lee said leading businesses are achieving business transformation by leveraging hybrid multi-cloud platform technology and embedding AI. “We are betting big on hybrid cloud which is secure, interoperable, open and free from vendor lock-in.”
Understandably, IBM is betting on hybrid cloud after its 2018 acquisition of Red Hat and its OpenShift platform. One of the company spokespersons has been quoted saying that this is a bet-the-business move for the organization, which used to be a household name in its heyday.
