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COVID-19 revealed holes in the cloud

by on11 February 2021


NTT report

While many companies had started digital transformation journeys before the pandemic, COVID-19 revealed that there were holes in many of their cunning plans, according to a new report.

NTT’s 2021 Hybrid Cloud Report said that the pandemic laid bare deficiencies in businesses’ cloud infrastructure, security and network architecture capabilities, hindering their ability to adapt and remain agile. 

The pandemic has forced a cultural mindset shift with global organisations adapting their agility plans from recovering infrastructure and applications to getting office-based workers set up and working from home, the report said.

Despite this uncertainty, the pandemic has provided a significant opportunity to accelerate digital transformation initiatives. 

The report, which conducted research with 950 decision-makers in 13 countries across five regions (115 respondents in UK & Ireland), highlighted the increasing reliance on technology and found that in the UK & Ireland: 

  • A business lifeline: 87.8 percent agree that the pandemic has forced its business to rely on technology more than ever before
  • The benefits of hybrid cloud are already clear: With 64.3 percent of organisations already using, or piloting hybrid cloud
  • Hybrid cloud is the future: The study found that a further 30.4 percent of respondents plan to implement a hybrid solution within 12-24 months

Hybrid cloud is now seen as critical to data-driven processes and real-time decisions both now and in the future. 

During such an uncertain time, businesses are continuing to tighten their purse strings and look to hybrid cloud to increase cost efficiency and drive the organisation’s overall performance. The report found that in the UK & Ireland a more efficient total cost of IT operations is the joint biggest driver alongside improved overall business agility (38.3 percent) of hybrid cloud adoption, especially given the shift to a distributed workforce model where businesses now need to access data and applications in new, different and often complex ways.  

The use of hybrid cloud is helping a third of UK & Ireland businesses improve the speed of deployment of applications and services in order to create operational efficiencies.

NTT Executive Vice President, Intelligent Infrastructure Rob Lopez said: “As businesses look to navigate the new year, they must look to hybrid cloud environments that are optimised for agility, security and supported by the right network architecture while also meeting compliance requirements. This is the foundation upon which cloud is successful and will enable businesses to weather any form of disruption that comes their way.”

Last modified on 11 February 2021
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