To gain insight into the state of application infrastructure modernization trends, including movement to public cloud services and the future of the data center, key reasons companies are using more than one cloud service provider, the rate at which organizations are moving to the public cloud, and expectations of and plans for on-premises data centers, ESG surveyed 372 IT professionals at organizations in North America (US and Canada) responsible for evaluating, purchasing, building, and managing application infrastructure.
Insight
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There are a few ways to do a three-scoop ice cream order. You can commit to one flavor because it’s your favorite, it’s reliable, and you don’t like mixing flavors. You can get two scoops of your favorite flavor and one of a different flavor; this option allows you to stay loyal to your favorite flavor but also enjoy some variety. Or you can get all three different flavors, balancing the uniqueness of each, how they complement each other, and the different strengths and weaknesses they each have. Ok, maybe I’m looking a little too deeply into ice cream ordering, but this is how organizations are thinking when allocating workloads to cloud environments. While sticking to what they know may feel safer and more straightforward, sometimes the risk of mixing clouds (or flavors!) is worth the reward.In a recent research study, ESG asked organizations how many unique public cloud infrastructure service providers they are currently using. The study revealed that 86% of current public cloud infrastructure users leverage a multi-cloud strategy, most using between 2 and 4 public clouds. There are many reasons why organizations may choose to adopt multiple clouds, such as leveraging the greater selection of capabilities across multiple providers. Like when mixing flavors of ice cream, when organizations use multiple clouds, they are able to capitalize on the unique strengths and benefits of each. ESG Senior Analyst Rob Strechay noted, “Organizations are betting big on multi-cloud. It is more than reality, but a necessity. More organizations are deploying applications that span multiple clouds to get the job done, and it provides them more benefits than it does risks.”
With this shift to multi-cloud strategies also comes coordination and security challenges. In the same ESG research survey, organizations reported that ensuring proper coordination/cooperation between multiple cloud teams along with traditional IT functional teams (44%), ensuring security across multiple cloud environments (36%), and the time and effort associated with moving apps/data between data center(s) and multiple public cloud services (32%) are the top challenges their organizations face as a result of using multiple cloud service providers (CSPs). For this reason, IT vendors are designing solutions to help organizations more easily implement and manage their multi-cloud environments. By connecting on-premises infrastructure to these CSPs, organizations can reap the benefits of all types of environments and data storage.
To learn more about how these solutions are bringing value to organizations, check out these ESG Validation reports: Dell EMC PowerScale Solution for Azure, Dell EMC PowerScale, DivvyCloud, Fortinet on Google Cloud, Nutanix Clusters.
Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG, a division of TechTarget) is an IT analyst, research, validation, and strategy firm that gives the global IT community access to market intelligence and actionable insight. The Validation Team creates assets such as Validation reports, videos, webinars, and more that help to communicate the technological and economic value of IT products and solutions.
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ESG conducted a comprehensive online survey of IT professionals from private- and public-sector organizations in North America (United States and Canada) between September 20, 2021 and September 25, 2021. To qualify for this survey, respondents were required to be IT decision makers responsible for evaluating, purchasing, managing, and building application infrastructure.
This Complete Survey Results presentation focuses on the state of application infrastructure modernization trends, the rate at which organizations are moving to the public cloud, key reasons companies are using more than one cloud service provider, and expectations of and plans for on-premises data centers.
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Communication platforms are where work gets done. The immense collaboration surge has inspired companies to centralize workflows, efficiently manage projects, and interact with colleagues in real time as they integrate their favorite applications, build custom applications, and consolidate business processes.
Stephanie Corby, VP of Market Insights at TechTarget, joins me in this brief video as we discuss the current market dynamics and our research plans.
Enterprise Strategy Group UCaaS research will help:
- Determine the extent to which organizations are prioritizing investment in a UCaaS solution to help consolidate communication channels and aggregate collaboration applications.
- Understand the common tipping point for stakeholders to consolidate the multiple existing communication and collaboration platforms into a UCaaS solution.
- Gain insights into what matters most for IT operations, LoB executives, and end-users, as well as what may be slowing down UCaaS investment.
- Gauge buyer preferences for the capabilities, economics, and business value of a UCaaS solution.
- Examine the impact of not investing in UCaaS solutions and the downstream impact it could have on business platforms and communication channels within the organization.
Please contact us to learn more.
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With the move to modern software development, we’ve been talking about shifting security responsibilities left to developers so that security is not a bottleneck. But do developers care about security? Watch this video with me and my colleague Rob Strechay to learn about how developers think about security, what kinds of tools are available from cloud security providers, and how security vendors are working with the cloud providers to secure cloud-native applications.
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ESG conducted a comprehensive online survey of IT professionals from private- and public-sector organizations in North America (United States and Canada) between November 29, 2021 and December 2, 2021. To qualify for this survey, respondents were required to be IT professionals responsible for evaluating, purchasing, and managing end-user computing environments.
This Complete Survey Results presentation focuses on end-user computing (EUC) environments, including EUC delivery models, endpoint device usage trends, and how unified communication and collaboration (UCC) platforms are being integrated into digital workspace strategies.
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For years, we have seen data transform businesses, create new industries, and serve as the catalyst for business growth and new opportunities. According to ESG research, 59% of businesses identify that at least some portion of their revenue is derived from information-based products and services. -
You’re driving down the highway, cruising at the speed limit (perhaps a bit over the speed limit), and then all of a sudden… traffic. It turns out there is construction up ahead and 3 lanes need to merge down to 1, causing a bottleneck of cars. While every car is capable of traveling the speed limit, there is simply not enough space for everyone to pass through the single lane while maintaining the speed they want to travel. When this happens, people feel like they are wasting time. In a similar way, when information reaches a bottleneck in a network, organizations may feel frustrated, knowing that there could be higher performance without the bottleneck. To combat this, many organizations have adopted Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) technology, and specifically NVMe over Fabrics (NVMe-oF), in order to open up more lanes for information travel. While typical NVMe is attached to the peripheral component interconnect (PCI) bus, NVMe-oF gives organizations more flexibility and bandwidth to circumvent the traffic bottleneck and move more information, more quickly. -
End-users are striving to efficiently reuse data to advance digital transformation initiatives and gain a range of business benefits. But this adds data management challenges to an already complex IT infrastructure landscape.
Explore some of Enterprise Strategy Group’s research into these trends with this infographic, From Data Backup to Data Intelligence.
For more information or to discuss these findings with an analyst, please contact us.
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Disjointed tools and manual processes are creating an unacceptable level of cyber-risk for many organizations.
See the data behind these trends and more with this Enterprise Strategy Group Infographic, Security Hygiene and Posture Management.
For more information or to discuss these findings with an analyst, please contact us.
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Developers are increasingly using infrastructure as code (IaC), such as Terraform and CloudFormation, to provision their own cloud infrastructure for faster development cycles. As IaC brings unprecedented ease and speed for self-service infrastructure provisioning, there is a high chance for mistakes and misconfigurations as development teams grow. -
Intelligent data management solutions and use cases are transforming the traditional data protection and storage spaces. As end-users continue on their digital transformation journeys, the need to efficiently reuse compliant data is adding data management challenges to an already complex IT infrastructure landscape. At the same time, significant business benefits can be derived from successful intelligent data management implementations.
There are a few ways to do a three-scoop ice cream order. You can commit to one flavor because it’s your favorite, it’s reliable, and you don’t like mixing flavors. You can get two scoops of your favorite flavor and one of a different flavor; this option allows you to stay loyal to your favorite flavor but also enjoy some variety. Or you can get all three different flavors, balancing the uniqueness of each, how they complement each other, and the different strengths and weaknesses they each have. Ok, maybe I’m looking a little too deeply into ice cream ordering, but this is how organizations are thinking when allocating workloads to cloud environments. While sticking to what they know may feel safer and more straightforward, sometimes the risk of mixing clouds (or flavors!) is worth the reward.
For years, we have seen data transform businesses, create new industries, and serve as the catalyst for business growth and new opportunities. According to ESG 
You’re driving down the highway, cruising at the speed limit (perhaps a bit over the speed limit), and then all of a sudden… traffic. It turns out there is construction up ahead and 3 lanes need to merge down to 1, causing a bottleneck of cars. While every car is capable of traveling the speed limit, there is simply not enough space for everyone to pass through the single lane while maintaining the speed they want to travel. When this happens, people feel like they are wasting time. In a similar way, when information reaches a bottleneck in a network, organizations may feel frustrated, knowing that there could be higher performance without the bottleneck. To combat this, many organizations have adopted Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) technology, and specifically NVMe over Fabrics (NVMe-oF), in order to open up more lanes for information travel. While typical NVMe is attached to the peripheral component interconnect (PCI) bus, NVMe-oF gives organizations more flexibility and bandwidth to circumvent the traffic bottleneck and move more information, more quickly.
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