Hybrid Cloud: Cloud’s take-off to innovation
The debate between investing in public or private cloud systems may be coming to an end as businesses in Middle East realize there’s a much easier model to digital transformation.
In a rapidly changing market where one third of the top 20 companies face disruption from digital competitors, businesses must constantly speed up innovation, deliver exceptional customer experience, and transform their business models. Eighty percent of businesses are leveraging cloud as a key ingredient to do just that. However, the questions about data security, integrity and where the actual data is held continue to be a barrier to adoption for many businesses in the Middle East region. As organizations in the Middle East are under constant pressure to increase productivity while reducing costs, the migration of business platforms and applications to the cloud is clearly a matter of when, not if.
What was not so obvious over the last 12 years is just how big of a focus the cloud would become. While businesses had a choice between public cloud services-with a lower CAPEX but less direct control-and private cloud setups in which they had more secure and customizable services albeit with higher investment up front. CIOs in the Middle East also faced a dilemma when choosing a cloud environment that not only meets existing needs but one that will future-proof IT investments as their business needs continue to evolve. Forward-thinking businesses are already looking at how cloud adoption will enhance innovation rather than just cost benefit alone. According to MarketsandMarkets, the hybrid cloud market in the MEA region is expected to experience huge growth in the coming five years due to improved application functionality and enhanced technologies. It is expected to grow from $2.13 billion in 2016 to $6.69 billion by 2021, at a CAGR of 25.8 percent from 2016 to 2021.
According to IBM, 85 percent of business leaders believe that hybrid cloud is accelerating digital transformation, with hybrid cloud growing faster than the public cloud. The hybrid model allows customers to integrate rather than migrate, extending current investments to extract value.
Enterprises large and small are now exploring several different cloud models as they assess current and future needs. Learning from the early days of cloud, many have found that building a private cloud environment is a lot more difficult than just using one. The networking layer can be complex, businesses need to have a good amount of IT-knowhow to get the foundations right, and it can be time-consuming to maintain. However, it is ultimately your cloud, and that comes with all the benefits that a public model lacks; namely greater resource availability and heightened security functions. This remains a popular model in sectors like banking where there are strict regulations on information integrity and CIOs prefer to have complete control of the infrastructure.
Nevertheless, public cloud services have been a popular choice for many organizations in the Middle East and bring their own value to the table. A public model liberates organizations from complex and costly IT systems which require a high degree of cost, capability and management to run efficiently. Public cloud services also offer the benefit of on-demand scalability and computing power without the need for further infrastructure investments. You rent what you need and that is all.
Now neither of these models is perfect for every scenario. Thankfully, they no longer have to be. Today’s hybrid modelwhich combines the delivery of public and private cloud services-is gaining popularity in the Middle East by offering the dual benefits of both models with an added layer of security and control. It’s a model that overcomes regulatory and compliance requirements that a public cloud does not provide, while still allowing organizations to keep their IT investments lean for mass-volume operations.
Seems simple enough, but the challenge in cloud’s early days was that it was near impossible for businesses to easily integrate both systems. If you built a private cloud environment for certain operations, integrating it with another company’s public cloud services-or even another offices private cloud-was next to impossible. That situation has changed however as both offerings have matured and new open platforms have come on line within the Middle East in particular. — Khaled Talaat is Branch Manager, IBM Kuwait.