Business Applications & End-user Computing

Microsoft Ignite should be added as a must attend event for IT decision makers and executives that have any type of current investment in Microsoft, building cloud strategies and transforming the way people work. The wave of announcements, the insights into technology, and the validations of customer success are worth tuning into.

Worth watching… https://t.co/nxQxgfzWTK

— markbowker (@markbowker) November 7, 2019

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I had the opportunity to attend the live Made By Google ’19 event in New York City on October 15, 2019.

Given the pace of change and innovation in the market it is fascinating to attend these events and get a firsthand look at the technology. As a consumer, it is easy to get excited about the latest gadgets, but businesses have traditionally been accustomed to technology lifecycles that are measured and accounted for in years–often 3, 5, and even 10 year increments. Innovators like Google are moving at a pace that is difficult to digest, never mind consume for mainstream businesses.  

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If you tuned into Galaxy Unpacked 2019, you had the opportunity to be thrilled by all the Samsung announcements, but when Microsoft popped into the storyline and Satya Nadella jumped on stage, it became clear that Samsung (and Microsoft) are focused beyond the consumer market and locking into the corporate workforce. The Samsung and Microsoft partnership also validates that the powerhouses are geared up to compete against Apple, Goggle, and AWS.

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On-premises integration is vital to hybrid cloud strategies. Many organizations have an on-premises-first mindset as they begin to formulate their hybrid cloud strategies. According to Enterprise Strategy Group research into hybrid cloud trends, when asked to identify the most important consideration in these decisions, more than half cited seamless compatibility with their on-premises infrastructure. Furthermore, nearly three-quarters of organizations stated that it was critical or very important that public cloud service providers offer solutions that integrate with their on-premises environments.

The majority of organizations still view on-premises as important. In fact, nearly nine of ten organizations expect to have a significant (35%) or measurable (54%) on-premises environment in three years.

Clearly many organizations have an on-premises-first mindset as they begin to formulate their hybrid cloud strategies. When asked to identify the most important consideration in these decisions, more than half (51%) cited seamless compatibility with their on-premises infrastructure.

So, this makes sense considering the decades of on-prem IT infrastructure and process, but IT pros have to be careful not to just move a problem from point A to point B. Cloud consumption strategies should inspire innovation and opportunity to embrace cloud services…even for IT pros who have spent their lives in a data center.

From an IT vendor perspective, the hybrid cloud market is fired up. Traditional on-prem hardware infrastructure OEMs are scrambling not to be vaporized while public cloud hyperscalers like Microsoft Azure, AWS, and Google are all backing down on the on-prem footprint. The fascinating part is how approaches vary. Microsoft partners with traditional hardware OEMs to land Azure Stack integrated systems on-prem. AWS drives a semi-trailer truck into the parking lot for exabyte-scale data transfer and is backing the bus up to drop off Outposts into the on-prem data center. On the other hand, Google is standing out as the only vendor among the hyperscalers to beat the drum on multi-cloud support with Anthos, which is focused on container management.

Yes, on-prem is important, but the IT pros I speak with are closing data centers and shifting strategies toward cloud consumption models. The on/off-prem workload is in an unbalanced state while the center of gravity shifts toward public cloud consumption.

Oracle ultimately had to choose a cloud partner as customer demand for cloud consumption continues to rise. In fact, ESG captured a 10% year over year increase (29% to 39%) of companies that are taking a cloud first policy when it comes to new application deployments. These dynamics cranked up the pressure on the Oracle business as they seemed to try to hold on to legacy on-premises approaches with their customers. And why not….margins are excellent and it is a massive investment for Oracle to build out global data centers. Sure, Oracle has cloud offerings, but they appeared to be more like nice window dressing than what the likes of Microsoft Azure, AWS, and Google GCP are offering (and expanding) in the market.

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New “born in the cloud” companies have it EASY! If I was to start a company today, it would be relatively simply (and fast) to choose business platforms, applications, and endpoints. While in reality, businesses have years of technology investments and business processes. So while companies are seeing the benefits and value of a digital workplace strategy, they risk creating a substantial functionality deficit.

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Look, there is no denying that Microsoft Windows has a massive footprint across the globe and has been the primary endpoint operating system that companies have relied on for decades. Heck, as much as I personally sometimes try to move over to other platforms like Mac OS or Chromebook, I find myself tied back to Microsoft Windows at some capacity. The same situation holds true for businesses as they continue to use Microsoft Windows because they have to, but the usage and interest of alternative solutions compounded with truly amazing capabilities on smartphones and tablets opens the door to create an enlightened end-user experience and improved productivity.

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First, let’s clarify what would drive businesses to consider moving cloud on-prem:

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