Infrastructure, Cloud & DevOps

  • Modern IT Service Management

    IT service management (ITSM) is going modern, and the approach is paying big dividends. Businesses modernizing their ITSM systems report myriad business and operational benefits, so despite the added complexity that often comes with modernization, organizations continue to move ahead with major upgrades.

    Learn more about these trends with the infographic, Modern IT Service Management.

  • Research Objectives

    As organizations continue to adopt multiple public cloud providers, maintain multiple data centers, and scale edge and colocation environments, IT decision makers must consider a wealth of locations to deploy new workloads and migrate existing workloads. Where an application is deployed depends on numerous factors, including the type of application, the needs of the application, the needs of the business, and the priorities of the organization.

    To gain insight into the strategy, process, personas, and considerations involved in multi-cloud applications deployment migration decisions, Enterprise Strategy Group surveyed 350 IT professionals in North America (US and Canada) responsible for evaluating, purchasing, and managing applications for their organization.

    This study sought to answer the following questions:

    • How do organizations distribute IT budgets across application deployment locations, including on-premises, infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS), software-as-a-service (SaaS), platform-as-a-service (PaaS), edge, and colocation?
    • Among users of public cloud services, how are IT budgets distributed between primary and secondary providers?
    • How do organizations expect their spending on application deployment locations to change in the next 24 months?
    • Do organizations have preferred cloud vendors they default to for application deployments, or do they choose providers based primarily on the application or cost?
    • What role do internal groups play in determining deployment plans and locations for new and existing applications?
    • What types of applications drive the use of one public cloud infrastructure provider over another?
    • What application attributes or requirements for new applications most influence the choice of provider?
    • What percentage of existing applications are strong, potential, or not candidates to move to public cloud services over the next five years? Which applications are not candidates, and why not?
    • What are organizations’ strategies for existing applications in terms of modernization and migration?
    • When and how are cloud cost optimization tools in the application deployment decision process?
    • Which factors influence decisions when evaluating the cost of cloud application deployments?
    • What is the adoption status of distributed applications in today’s IT environments?
    • How many inter-cloud application integrations do organizations currently manage?
    • What challenges do organizations encounter when monitoring, measuring, and ensuring SLA adherence for applications that rely on inter-cloud integrations?
    • What application types are unsuitable for use as distributed applications and inter-cloud integration?
    • Why do organizations use more than one public cloud infrastructure provider? What applications or application requirements lead to the use of secondary providers?
    • What KPIs are used to measure the value and effectiveness of application deployment locations?

    Survey participants represented a wide range of industries including manufacturing, technology, financial services, and retail/wholesale. For more details, please see the Research Methodology and Respondent Demographics sections of this report.

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  • Research Objectives

    • Determine the strategy, process, personas, and considerations involved in multi-cloud application deployment and migration decisions.
    • Highlight the top considerations and factors that influence decision makers to shift away from their more common approach.
    • Identify how decision making is influenced by industry, location, and application.
    • Help technology and cloud vendors better communicate with and serve their customers with insights into their top priorities for applications.

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  • Research Objectives

    Gauge current and planned adoption of integrated solutions.

    Identify business and technology drivers for partner solutions.

    Highlight the role of senior IT leadership in the buying cycle.

    Determine objections and critical success factors for integrated solutions.

    Assess the role of current vendor relationships in the buying process.

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  • Cloud-native Application Trends for 2023

    The 2023 Technology Spending Intentions Survey from Enterprise Strategy Group indicates that organizations focused on rapidly developing and deploying cloud-native applications use DevOps and agile software development methodologies more frequently than others. This implies that being cloud-native is as much about embracing iterative methodologies as it is about the technology. The survey findings also suggest that an organization’s use of cloud-native applications and its level of adoption of agile methodologies can have a substantial impact on its digital transformation journey and maturity.

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  • Using ESG Initiatives to Bolster Brand

    While organizations can have altruistic reasons for embracing and implementing environmental, social, and governance (ESG) initiatives, there are also more self-serving drivers. Indeed, not only is improved brand development the most commonly cited ESG objective, nearly half of early adopters identify it as a benefit they have already realized as a result of implementing these initiatives.

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  • Paying a Price Premium for ESG

    The principles of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) initiatives increasingly matter as a technology brand attribute and are subsequently new and important evaluation factors for IT buyers. It follows then that the vast majority of organizations will pay a price premium for products and/or services from vendors that demonstrate a firm commitment to ESG, a trend that is even more pronounced among younger organizations.

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  • Why I Joined Enterprise Strategy Group

    I’m honored to be a part of the Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) as lead analyst for observability, IT operations, and sustainability in IT. Previously, I was publisher and VP of market insights for infrastructure at ESG’s parent organization, TechTarget. In that role, I worked with hundreds of IT vendors’ leadership teams helping them leverage original market insights to improve their go-to-market results. Throughout that time, one consistent observation I had was that the content and insights that came from Enterprise Strategy Group were both more insightful and higher performing than content that came from other analyst groups– big ones you’ve heard of –because ESG always brought “the bigger truth” to light. And that truth was being illuminated by industry heavyweights– people like Jon Oltsik and Adam Demattia – who are amongst the smartest and most effective people I’ve ever worked with in their respective domains. 

    As a researcher and data nerd (and confirmed sapiosexual), I get excited by the quality and quantity of data  available to me to assist in providing you with market insights – especially around emerging trends and market changes. Imagine having real-time data on what 29 million IT buyers are researching right now and how exactly that is changing. Is that useful information for a marketer or product strategist? Imagine being able to combine that with deep topical research that is informed by surveys and end-user interviews. Couple that with a group of analysts who are all well regarded in their areas of expertise and you end up with nirvana – OK, not quite nirvana – but a really great situation, nonetheless.

    My goal is to be as useful as possible to Enterprise Strategy Group clients by providing them with the best insights, commentary, and content – as ESG has always done for its clients.

    Take a look at this video with myself and my esteemed colleague, Scott Sinclair, as we have a brief discussion about what brought me to the Enterprise Strategy Group and what I see as the major market dynamics that will impact observability in the near term. We also discuss how sustainability goals are changing infrastructure, operations, and software buyers both in what they buy and how they manage its usage and lifecycle. Suffice it to say that the combination of economic outlook, artificial intelligence, cloud-native development, and a mass realization that unmanaged cloud is expensive is going to make 2023 a year of great change. Let’s go!

  • 2023 Technology Spending Intentions Survey

    Despite global macroeconomic conditions, aggressive technology investments are expected to continue among more digitally transformed organizations. See highlights from research into these trends by TechTarget’s Enterprise Strategy Group with this infographic, 2023 Technology Spending Intentions.

  • 2023 Technology Spending Intentions Survey

    Research Objectives

    Based on a survey of 742 senior IT decision makers at midmarket and enterprise organizations, the 2023 Technology Spending Intentions Survey analyzes private and public sector technology spending expectations, the business and technology priorities driving those plans, and year-over-year trends in technology adoption and customer preferences. This year’s study from TechTarget’s Enterprise Strategy Group finds that enterprise technology spending will generally slow due to global macroeconomic conditions and the threat of a worldwide recession, but aggressive investments are expected to continue among more digitally transformed organizations.

    For more information on this research, please visit www.esg-global.com/2023-technology-spending.

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  • 2023 Technology Spending Intentions Survey

    Research Objectives

    Ascertain IT budget outlook for 2023 overall and for specific technologies.

    Determine key business and technology priorities driving 2023 spending plans.

    Establish a profile of digitally mature companies in terms of the technologies and processes underlying their IT strategies.

    Monitor YoY trends with respect to technology adoption and changing customer preferences.

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    If you are not yet a Subscription Client but would like to learn more about accessing this report, please contact us.
  • The Role of ESG Programs in IT Decision Making

    IT suppliers’ environmental, social, and governance (ESG) program status is a new and important evaluation factor for buyers.

    See data behind this emerging trend with this free Enterprise Strategy Group Infographic, The Role of ESG Programs in IT Decision Making.