According to a new survey of 100 senior IT decision-makers in the UK by co-location data centre provider Asanti, the future looks uncertain for cloud hosting providers. The report found that 67% of respondents are opting for a hybrid hosting model that includes on-premises resources and cloud services.
A hybrid approach is a notable shift from the cloud-only strategy that has marked many business plans in recent years. Nearly all decision-makers regret using only public cloud services. Only 6% said they wouldn’t change their cloud-first strategy if they could go back in time. The remaining 94% cite aggravating obstacles during and after the cloud shift that made it not worth the headache.
“With such a high percentage of organizations moving their applications to on-premises or co-location data centers, it’s logical to ask: what exactly were cloud service providers promising when they sold these packages? It’s now clear that adopting a cloud-first strategy may not be the best approach,” explained Stewart Laing, CEO of Asanti. “We strongly encourage IT decision-makers and business leaders to take a business-first view, focusing on current and future needs to determine the most appropriate hosting model, rather than starting with a pre-built solution and trying to tailor it to the business.”
At first glance, it seems logical to prioritize public cloud services for IT needs. Cloud computing offers incredible flexibility and can be scaled to fit almost any business need. However, organizing a business around a “cloud-first” model is a deceptively complex maneuver. Complexity often means increased prices, something no business wants to deal with. However, 77% of respondents were hit with unexpected costs.
IT comes home
In fact, 63% said the migration was even more expensive than their original IT systems, raising uncomfortable questions about whether the migration was worth it. IT leaders also had plenty of time to think about their regrets, as 98% of companies surveyed had trouble migrating to the cloud and 57% said they exceeded their schedule—another source of higher prices. Cloud infrastructure is also complex enough to cause problems after migration. The survey found that 44% of respondents had to upskill their staff to handle cloud environments and 31% had difficulty integrating their existing IT systems with the cloud.
That’s without even considering issues like regulatory compliance and security after moving to the cloud. Meeting regulatory standards was a challenge for 62% of respondents. Security concerns and the need to match or exceed legal standards have led many companies to rethink the public cloud as a home for their operations. Faced with these challenges, more than one company is moving their applications back from the public cloud to on-premises or co-location data centers. Ninety-one percent of organizations surveyed are moving some or all of their applications in that direction. Whether a company wants more control over infrastructure and performance, has faced too much downtime and poor performance, or simply needs to reduce reliance on public cloud providers, the desire to migrate away from public cloud services is nearly universal.
