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WhitePaper

Empowering the business for the hybrid cloud future September 2013

Taking the business benefits of private cloud to new heights

Avanade® WhitePaper

Taking the business benefits of private clouds to new heights

©2013 Avanade Inc. All rights reserved.

Table of Contents

01 Scope of research/methodology

02 Summary of key findings

04 The importance of cloud computing environments and its impact on businesses

08 Private cloud growth and the trend towards hybrid

12 Wanted: a business focused, cloud management portal

15 Looking to partners to help with private cloud strategy

17 Conclusion

18 Recommendations




1

Scope of research & methodology

Research methodology

Avanade commissioned independent technology market

research specialist Vanson Bourne to undertake the research

upon which this report is based. Avanade was created in

2000 to provide business technology solutions and managed

services based on the Microsoft platform.

750 interviews were carried out during April-May 2013 with

senior decision-makers in the IT department of enterprises

with more than 1000 employees (split equally between

enterprises with up to 3000 employees and enterprises with

more than 3000 employees). Interviews were performed in

nine countries:

USA - 200 interviews

United Kingdom - 100 interviews

China - 100 interviews

Germany - 100 interviews

France - 70 interviews

Sweden - 30 interviews

Brazil - 50 interviews

Japan - 50 interviews

Australia - 50 interviews

Respondents to this research came from a range of industry

sectors, which only excluded public sector. Interviews were

conducted online using a rigorous multi-level screening

process to ensure that only suitable candidates were given

the opportunity to participate.

Unless otherwise indicated, results discussed in the main

narrative are based on the entire global sample. Where

variances in response by region or sector are notable, they

are clearly indicated as such.

Aims of the research

This study explores the current trends in the adoption of

private cloud computing as well as the impact public cloud

adoption is having on how IT is expected to deliver the private

cloud experience to their business users. This is done by

examining how enterprises are looking to adapt and evolve

their private cloud environments in the future. The study also

looks to understand the concerns and struggles that

enterprises currently have with cloud, and how they are

looking to tackle these difficulties.

The study investigates the purchase behavior for cloud

services within enterprises and any related consequences of

these behaviors - Are business owners bypassing their own

IT departments and engaging public cloud services? If so,

why are they doing so? What are the implications to an

enterprise when IT is not involved?

With the proliferation of public cloud services is there still a

role for private cloud services? Can IT find a solution whereby

business owners within their enterprise are able to interact

with their own cloud environment as they see fit, yet with IT

retaining ultimate control? Is IT struggling to establish a

robust, business focused, private cloud strategy and are they

looking to find a partner who can help them establish a robust

private cloud strategy? If so, are there particular areas where

they believe a partner can provide the greatest value?

The study addresses these questions in four distinct sections,

first establishing the importance and impact of cloud, then the

prevalence of private cloud and the evolution of hybrid. The

report then addresses the ever growing need for a holistic

cloud service management tool. Are enterprises looking for

more comprehensive, user friendly tools than are currently

available off-the-shelf? Finally, this paper looks at the desire

to establish a relationship with a partner who can help

enterprises create a robust cloud strategy.




2

Summary of key findings

The majority of IT decision-makers (referred to in this paper as ITDMs) understand the business benefits arising from their use of cloud

Improved efficiency (65%), improved agility (63%), and

reduced costs (55%) are the three benefits most likely to

arise from implementation of this technology.

ITDMs see the potential of cloud computing as a key to

success. Almost half (48%) of all respondents that use

cloud completely agree with this sentiment

Private cloud is becoming the new norm in IT environments

89% of these enterprises use private cloud and 64% use

public cloud. Almost half (48%) of all enterprises use both

public and private cloud in tandem

But, employees are still signing up for cloud services independently of their IT department – potentially introducing risk into the enterprise

Two thirds of ITDMs believe their employees are signing

up for cloud services outside of their IT department – and

as a result, two thirds of IT decision-makers also believe

that employees are introducing risk into the company

Widespread, unchecked use of external clouds is resulting in inefficiencies for the business

61% of respondents agree that sprawl is causing

inefficiencies in their business, and half of ITDMs say that

cloud sprawl is making their working life more difficult

Business is demanding a better private cloud experience from their IT departments

70% of respondents say that the business demands a similar transparency of the internal IT department’s cost and running of cloud computing environments to those which are produced by external cloud providers (figure A). In short, IT needs to be easier to do business with

Figure A: “To what extent would you agree that, having dealt with public cloud providers, business demands a similar transparency of the internal IT department's costing and running of cloud computing environments?” Asked to all cloud users (683)

Private cloud environments are preferred where security and compliance are concerns

Security concerns (77%) and data compliance/regulatory

demands (60%) are the top two reasons why ITDMs

choose to deploy certain applications on a private cloud

rather than a public cloud

Enterprises realize many benefits from private cloud

The majority are seeing improved utilization/greater cost

efficiencies, greater agility/speed of task completions,

simplification of IT requests and management process,

improved application performance, and improved

collaboration between business and IT

32%

38%

19%

8%

2%

1 – completely agree

2

3

4

5 – do not agree at all




3

75% of those with private cloud are looking to increase their investment in this technology…

…and more than half (60%) of those without private cloud

are looking to do the same (figure B). 71% of ITDMs also

plan to have a least a portion of their private clouds

installed on-premises in the next 12 months. Therefore it

will be important for IT service providers to address how

they can offer private cloud services in a manner which

meets business departments’ expectations

Figure B: Analysis of those who plan to expand their use of private cloud over the next twelve months. Asked of all respondents (750)

And over half of ITDMs see the business benefits of extending their private clouds to other clouds and plan to invest in a hybrid cloud future

Of those that are looking to invest in hybrid cloud, the

extension of private cloud into the public cloud, the

average ratio of private to public is predicted to be

57%:43% in 24 months’ time

The majority of ITDMs agree that simplification of cloud management is a key element of business success

It is predicted that simplification of environments will see

an average fall of a third in the cost (32%) and time (33%)

spent managing cloud

But, over half believe that off-the-shelf cloud management platforms cannot meet the requirements of business goals while allowing IT to retain the necessary control

56% believe the majority of cloud management platforms

are too technical for business owners, 53% agree the

platforms do not use a language business can

understand and 55% also agree that cloud management

platforms are too limiting in the number of cloud platforms

they support

Three quarters of ITDMs want to empower business owners with a self-service, business oriented private cloud management portal

73% of ITDMs agree that a self-service private cloud tool

which they can provide to business owners would be

useful, predicting they would roll-out this tool to an

average of five different business units across the

corporation

ITDMs are struggling to keep up with cloud technologies, 69% looking for a partner to help establish a robust cloud strategy

More than half (57%) of ITDMs openly admit they are

struggling to keep up with the complexity of cloud

technologies

As a result, 69% of respondents are looking to partners

to help them establish a robust cloud strategy, mainly for

their technical expertise in designing/implementing cloud

infrastructures (figure C)

Figure C: Are you looking to partner organizations to help establish a robust cloud strategy? Asked to all respondents (750)

When it comes to choosing a partner, technical expertise with private cloud (72%) and robust private cloud management tools (61%) are qualities seen as key to maximizing cloud environments

ITDMs are turning to partners with technical expertise in

designing and building private cloud infrastructures and

who have experience with robust private cloud

management tools that can help them maximize the

potential of their cloud environments

75%

18%

6%

34%

26%

41%

Yes, we are looking to investin private cloud the next 12

months

Yes, we are looking to investin private cloud, but beyond

12 months

No, we are not looking toinvest in private cloud

Private cloud users Non-private cloud users

69%

31%

Yes No




4

The importance of cloud computing environments and their impact on businesses

The prevalence of cloud computing

The study reveals that the vast majority (91%) of respondents

have implemented cloud to some extent; private cloud is the

most popular implementation (89%), while 64% use a public

cloud implementation.

More specifically, just under half (48%) of respondents use

the two environment types in tandem, though a third (33%)

use only private cloud and one in ten (10%) use only public

(figure 1). It is worth highlighting that these mixed

environments, while being used in the same company, are

likely separate from each other; only 19% of respondents

overtly state that they have a hybrid environment (that is, a

linking of public and private cloud together). Hybrid cloud is

explored later in the study.

Figure 1: “Which of the following cloud computing environments are

currently being used by your organization?” Asked to all respondents

(750 respondents)

Why are cloud environments so popular?

The research shows that cloud environments are so popular

amongst respondents because they provide a multitude of

business benefits. On average, ITDMs highlight five different

business benefits resulting from their use of cloud computing

environments, the top three being improved efficiency,

improved agility, and reduced costs (figure 2).

Figure 2: “Which of the following do you perceive as business

benefits resulting from cloud computing environments?” Asked to all

respondents (750 respondents)

10%

48%

33%

9%

Public only

Both public and private

Private only

Currently not using cloud computing

31%

35%

41%

42%

44%

46%

47%

55%

63%

65%

Better return-on-investment(ROI) for projects

Expansion to new markets

Efficient version upgrades

More stable

Better growth

Greater innovation

Improved disaster recovery

Reduced costs

Improved agility

Improved efficiency




5

Cloud is key to business success

The multitude of benefits resulting from cloud implementation

is having a fundamentally positive impact on enterprises

surveyed. The vast majority (98%) of those who have

implemented a cloud solution agree to some extent that the

technology has been key in shaping their business to be more

successful (figure 3). More tellingly, almost half (48%) of

ITDMs completely agree with this sentiment, emphatically

highlighting the essential role that this technology is playing in

the success of large businesses.

Figure 3: “To what extent do you agree cloud computing

technologies have been key in helping transform your business to be

more successful?” Asked to all cloud users (683 respondents)

Those ITDMs using both public and private cloud solutions

are even more likely to completely agree with this sentiment

than those using just public or private cloud; 59% of those

with both types completely agree, compared to 40% of those

using solely public solutions and 35% of those using a private

implementation (figure 4).

Figure 4: To what extent do you agree cloud computing technologies

have been key in helping transform your business to be more

successful?” Responded “agree” by cloud usage. Asked to all cloud

users (683 respondents)

Employees bypassing IT

Two thirds (66%) of IT managers believe employees are

signing up for cloud services other than those provided by the

IT department (figure 5). ITDMs believe employees are most

frequently signing up for Software as a Service (SaaS) (77%),

followed by Platform as a Service (PaaS) (62%) and

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) (59%).

Figure 5: “Do you believe your organization's employees are signing

up for cloud services outside those provided by the IT department?”

Asked to all respondents (683 respondents)

Two thirds (66%) of ITDMs who suspect employees are

provisioning their own cloud services worry that additional risk

is being introduced into the IT infrastructure. This is placing

another level of pressure on the IT department (figure 6).

Despite this positivity towards cloud, there’s clearly a

difference in opinion in how best to use the technology.

Figure 6: “As a result of employees signing up for public cloud

services outside of those provided by IT, do you feel additional risk is

being introduced into IT systems?” Asked of respondents who believe

that employees are signing up for cloud services outside those

provided by the IT department (494)

48%

31%

13%

6%

2%

1 – completely agree 2

3

4


40% 35%

59%

Public cloud only Private cloud only Both public andprivate cloud

66%

34%

Yes No

33%

33%

20%

13%

1%

1 – completely agree 234





6

Cloud sprawl

Cloud sprawl is the concept that too many cloud

environments are spread too widely or thinly across a

business instead of having a coordinated approach to cloud

service acquisition and management. Given the already

widespread adoption of these services, is cloud sprawl

already affecting businesses?

The majority (61%) of respondents agrees that cloud sprawl is

causing inefficiencies in their business, rising to almost three-

quarters (71%) amongst those using both public and private

cloud solutions (figure 7).

Figure 7: Those who agree that cloud sprawl is causing inefficiencies

to be introduced into the integration and management with their back-

office business systems and applications analyzed by type of cloud

deployment. Asked of cloud users (683)

ITDMs themselves are seeing secondary effects from cloud

sprawl and half agree cloud sprawl is making their working life

more difficult (figure 8). Not only has investing in numerous

environments caused business problems, it is affecting those

that have to manage these environments.

Figure 8: “To what extent do you agree that cloud computing sprawl,

is making your working life difficult?” Asked of cloud users (683)

ITDMs in enterprises with a mix of public and private cloud

environments are more likely to feel that their day-to-day

activities are made more difficult due to cloud sprawl.

The effect of public cloud on IT departments

The research highlights that the majority of senior ITDMs

agree that the IT department has to compete against the

business models of public cloud service providers (figure 9).

Figure 9: “To what extent would you agree that the IT department

has to compete against the business models of public cloud service

providers?” Asked to all cloud users (683)

36%

54%

71%

Public cloud only Private cloud only Both public andprivate cloud

22%

29% 25%

17%

8%

1 – completely agree 2345 – do not agree at all

29%

33%

23%

11%

4%

1 – completely agree 2345 – do not agree at all




7

Additionally, the majority of ITDMs also agree that the

business, having dealt with public cloud providers, demands a

similar transparency of the internal IT department's costing

and running of cloud computing environments (figure 10).

Figure 10: “To what extent would you agree that, having dealt with

public cloud providers, business demands a similar transparency of

the internal IT department's costing and running of cloud computing

environments?” Asked to all cloud users (683): Also labeled as

‘Figure A’ in the ‘Summary of key findings’

Those using a mix of public and private environments are

much more likely to agree (72%) that IT is in competition with

both the business models and the transparency levels of

public cloud providers.

Further analysis

Sector

Based on this study the ITDMs in the retail and private

healthcare sectors surveyed lead the adoption of cloud

technology, having the greatest level of cloud adoption at

present (98% and 95% adopting to some extent respectively).

Additionally, both of these sectors are very likely to have a

mixed environment of private and public solutions, with

around 74% using a mixed solution.

At the other end of the spectrum, the financial services sector

respondents to the survey are the least likely to have cloud

technology in place, as 20% of respondents in this sector are

not using cloud.

Around two-thirds of retail and healthcare respondents (63%

and 60% respectively) completely agree that cloud has been

key in shaping their business into a success. Financial service

respondents are at the other end of the spectrum, as only

38% completely agree that cloud is key to their success. In

addition, retail and healthcare respondents on average see

more benefits.

Country

Almost all (99%) respondents in the USA have implemented

cloud computing environments to some extent. On the other

side of the Pacific, 97% of Chinese surveyed ITDMs have

adopted cloud computing to some extent. In addition, both

China and the US respondents have the highest use of mixed

cloud environments (85% and 68% respectively).

32%

38%

19%

8%

2%

1 – completely agree

2

3

4





8

Private cloud growth and the trend towards hybrid

The research has already highlighted that cloud technology is

integral to the large majority of enterprises surveyed, bringing

a multitude of benefits and being key to their success as a

business. Deploying a mixture of private and public

environments has a particularly positive effect on these

enterprises, as on average those with mixed environments

experience more benefits. What of those deploying private

cloud implementations? How is private cloud faring in the

business world, and how is it affecting IT departments and

enterprises as a whole?

Private cloud deployment

As mentioned previously, the vast majority (89%) of

respondents have private cloud within their company to some

extent, this being the most popular form of cloud environment.

Currently, using a mixture of in-house and external service

providers is the most popular method of private cloud

deployment; 42% of private cloud users use a mixture of the

two (figure 11).

Figure 11: “Is your private cloud computing environment deployed in-

house or with a cloud service provider?” and “In 12 months' time, do

you see your private cloud computing environment being deployed in-

house or with a cloud service provider?” Asked of private cloud users

(607)

This is not set to change drastically over the next 12 months,

though there is a hint that those outsourcing their private

cloud deployment are moving towards a combination

approach.

Essential elements of private cloud

On average ITDMs demand four essential elements from their

deployments, with the majority needing virtualization (82%),

dynamic allocation (61%), rapid provisioning (60%), resource

pooling (57%) and service catalogues (55%) (figure 12).

Figure 12: “Which of the following do you believe to be essential

elements of private cloud?” Asked of private cloud users (607)

25%

33%

42%

25%

29%

46%

In-house

Cloud service provider

A combination of the two

Current 12 month's time

34%

46%

55%

57%

60%

61%

82%

Transparency

Self-service

Service catalogues(Storage, Networking,

Compute, etc.)

Resourcing pooling

Rapid provisioning

Dynamic allocation

Virtualisation




9

Private cloud investment

The vast majority (93%) of respondents currently

implementing private cloud are looking to make further

investments in this technology, with three quarters (75%)

looking to do so in the next 12 months (figure 13). The

significant desire for further investment in private cloud

suggests that the technology is hugely beneficial to those

enterprises that are currently using it. Additionally, the

majority (60%) of those currently without private cloud are

looking to invest in this environment type, furthering the idea

that the market is extremely positive towards this solution.

Figure 13: Analysis of those who plan to expand their use of private

cloud over the next twelve months. Asked of all respondents (750)

Also labeled as ‘Figure B’ in ‘Summary of key findings’

Benefits of private cloud

The vast majority (96%) of ITDMs surveyed expect benefits to

arise as a result of using private cloud. Moreover, this majority

report an average of three expected benefits from installing

private cloud, with an improved utilization of IT

resources/greater cost efficiencies (71%) and greater

agility/speed of task completion (61%) particularly highly

expected (figure 14).

Figure 14: “Of the following, which would you expect as a result of

using a private cloud solution?”

Asked of all respondents (750)

Respondents with a mix of public and private cloud have

more positive expectations of private cloud, selecting an

average of four benefits as opposed to the average of three

selected by those using a singular cloud type.

75%

18%

6%

34%

26%

41%

Yes, we are looking to investin private cloud the next 12

months

Yes, we are looking to investin private cloud, but beyond 12

months

No, we are not looking toinvest in private cloud

Private cloud users Non-private cloud users

37%

51%

55%

58%

61%

71%

Modernised/improved computingtools/technologies

Improved collaboration betweenbusiness and IT

Improved applicationperformance

Simplification of IT requests andmanagement processes

Greater agility/speed of taskcompletion

Improved utilisation of ITresources/greater cost

efficiencies




10

Hybrid cloud

Hybrid cloud – defined by the US National Institute of

Standards and Technology (NIST) as a cloud infrastructure

composed of two or more distinct cloud infrastructures that

remain unique but bound together to enable data and

application portability, is wanted by the majority of ITDMs

surveyed; 57% are looking to integrate hybrid cloud into their

cloud strategy, and almost one in five (19%) are already

implementing it (figure 15). Only a minority (24%) are not

looking to hybrid as part of their strategy.

Figure 15: “Is hybrid cloud, a combination of private and public

clouds, part of your overall cloud strategy?” Asked of cloud users

(683)

These figures confirm that hybrid cloud environments are the

preferred use of the technology.

If looking to adopt a hybrid solution, respondents expect a

greater reliance on private cloud, with an expected 57%:43%

split between private and public solutions on average (figure

16). Though a mixed methodology is in high demand, this

shows that private cloud will remain the most popular form of

the technology for the foreseeable future, and again confirms

its importance for the majority of ITDMs surveyed.

Figure 16: “In 24 months' time, what percentage of your cloud computing resources do you see being on private clouds vs. public

clouds?” average Asked of cloud users whose organization plans to

or is integrating hybrid solutions into their cloud strategy (679)

The reason for private cloud being preferred over public cloud

is predominantly security based. Almost eight in ten (77%) IT

managers surveyed agree that security concerns would be

the reason to deploy certain applications in a private cloud

rather than a public cloud (figure 17).

Figure 17: “Why would you prefer to deploy certain

applications in a private cloud vs. public cloud?” Asked of all

respondents (750)

While security is the most common motive for using private

environments in favor of public solutions, it is not the only

reason. With an average of three reasons being cited, private

cloud clearly offers users more reason to be comfortable with

their deployment.

57%

19%

24% Yes, we intend to integratehybrid solutions into ourcloud strategy

Yes, we are alreadyintegrating hybrid cloud intoour cloud strategy

No, hybrid cloud is not partof our cloud strategy

57%

43%

Private Public

36%

40%

46%

60%

77%

Change control

Economic uncertainty of publiccloud

Proximity tousers/performance concerns

Data compliance/regulatorydemands

Security concerns

http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/nistpubs/800-145/SP800-145.pdf




11

Further analysis

Sector

The surveyed ITDMs in the retail sector are making the

greatest demand on their private cloud deployments,

expecting an average of five essential components compared

to the average of four. In short, the respondents in this sector

that previously reported experiencing the greatest number of

benefits from cloud (as seen earlier) are demanding more

features from private environments.




12

Wanted: a business focused, cloud management portal

We have already seen the impacts of public cloud offerings

and how business owners are expecting similar transparency

from their IT department’s offerings. ITDMs have also agreed

that simplification of cloud management is a key element to

the overall success of the enterprise. Furthermore, the

majority of respondents have stated that a hybrid of private

and public cloud environments is the strategy best suited for

their enterprise in the future.

The impact of simplification

To combat the threat of cloud sprawl, many of the surveyed

ITDMs are looking to simplify their cloud environments,

predicting numerous savings to be made from taking such

action.

Figure 18: “Taking into consideration all your cloud computing

environments, are they on-average more complex than your

traditional on-premise systems?”

Asked of cloud users (683)

Based on the study, if cloud environments were simplified, it

is predicted that the time spent managing the environments

would fall by an average of 33%. Similarly, the cost of

managing cloud environments would fall by an expected

average of 32% through simplification, meaning the current

average spend of $47,172 per month would drop to around

$32,000 (figure 19).

Figure 19: Analysis of cost each month managing cloud computing environments versus how much money could be saved having simplified Asked of cloud users who know how much is spent on cloud management (608)

22%

37%

41%

More complex They are of the same complexity Less complex

$47

$32

Current cost ($K) per month managing cloud computingenvironments

Estimated cost ($K) per month managing cloud computingenvironments following predicted fall

32%

Predicted % reduction in cost if management of cloud computing environments were simplified




13

The market demand for self-service portals

There is a significant market demand for a self-service portal,

with almost three quarters (73%) of respondents agreeing that

this would be a useful tool for their business (figure 20).

Those with a mixture of both public and private cloud

environments are particularly in favor of a self-service tool, as

88% agree that it would be useful. As seen earlier, those with

a mixed solution are also those who are most troubled by

cloud sprawl.

Figure 20: “If IT professionals were able to provide business decision

makers with a self-serve tool that would let them set up and manage

their own environments within a private cloud, would the organization

consider this to be a useful practice?” Asked of all respondents (750)

Despite this positivity for self-service portals, the majority

(56%) of ITDMs surveyed believe that off-the-shelf

management portals are too technical for business users.

This shows that most off-the-shelf portals are not able to

satisfy market demand; ITDMs are looking for a holistic portal

which will meet the requirements of all user types. In this

regard, what factors do ITDMs take into account when looking

to purchase one? The main concern centers on ease of use.

The majority (62%) of respondents is looking for a portal built

for all types of users, not just technically able staff (figure 21).

Figure 21: “Which of the following would you take into account if/when looking for a cloud self-service portal?” Asked of all respondents (750)

A similar percentage (61%) also report that they look for a

portal being built in a language that the business

understands. The fact that the majority of ITDMs surveyed

also say that a portal needs to be built around business

context and that they need to be easy to resize and configure

further highlights how complete the portal needs to be.

32%

41%

16%

6%

4%

1 – extremely useful 2345 – not at all useful 51%

55%

61%

62%

A portal built with the ability to moreeasily resize, configure and order

virtual machines in mind

A portal built around businesscontext to handle both private and

public clouds

A portal built in a language thatbusiness understands

A portal built for all types of users,not just technically-able staff, in mind




14

Business units intending to use a self-service portal

Which departments are expected to be using these self-

service portals? Respondents anticipate rolling out a self-

service tool to four business units on average, confirming

cloud computing environments that are simple to use will be

accessed by numerous functions within the company. The

two business units most likely to want a self-service cloud tool

are development and engineering (figure 22). Note that just

under half expect cloud to be deployed in non-technical

departments – finance, supply/procurement, marketing, HR,

and sales. The research indicates that cloud solutions are not

just expected to be used amongst tech-savvy departments,

but throughout the business.

Figure 22: “For which business units within your organization do you

envision using a self-service tool?”

Asked of respondents who would find a self-serve tool useful that

would allow business decision makers to set up and manage their

own environments (717)

Further analysis

Sector

There’s a difference in the perceived impact of simplification

across sectors surveyed. For respondents in financial

services, they predict a savings of 27% in monthly cloud

management spend compared to the average of 31% after

simplification.

Conversely, those surveyed in retail predict the greatest

positive changes following a simplification of their cloud

computing environment. They predict that the time spent

managing cloud would fall by 37%, greater than the average

of 33%.

Additionally, the surveyed retail sector respondents are the

most positive about the idea of a self-service tool. Not only do

78% of respondents in this sector feel that it would be an

important tool, on average they are looking to roll out this sort

of technology to the most business units; five units compared

to the average of four.

37%

42%

43%

44%

45%

47%

53%

53%

Customer service

Sales

Human resources

Marketing

Supply chain/procurement

Finance

Engineering

Development




15

Looking to partners to help with private cloud strategy

As surveyed ITDMs look to deploy cloud solutions across the

business that are easy to use while not falling into the pitfall of

cloud sprawl, many are looking for a partner to help establish

a robust cloud strategy and deploy the most appropriate cloud

solution. The reason for this need for external help is due to

the complexity of cloud, with the majority (57%) of

respondents claiming to be struggling with this complexity

(figure 23).

Figure 23: “Is your organization struggling to keep up with the

complexity of ever changing cloud technology?” Asked of all

respondents (750)

Coupled with the recognition that simplification will drastically

reduce the time and money spent managing these

environments, this has led to over two-thirds (69%) openly

admitting that they are looking to partner companies to help

them establish a robust cloud strategy (figure 24).

Figure 24: “Are you looking to partner organizations to help establish

a robust cloud strategy?” Asked to all respondents (750) Also labeled

as ‘Figure C’ in ‘Summary of key findings’

A number of factors influence the choice of a partner

company. The requirement cited by most is the need for a

level of technical expertise in designing/implementing private

cloud (72%), though half or more selected each one of the

potential attributes (figure 25).

Figure 25: “Which of the following attributes do you look for in a

business partner in this regard?” Asked of all respondents (750)

These figures show that a partner has to demonstrate

numerous skills, abilities, and expertise before an ITDM will

consider them as a viable cloud partner.

57%

43%

Yes No

69%

31%

Yes No

50%

54%

61%

72%

Level of business/industry expertise

The ability to accelerate ROI

Use of robust private cloudmanagement tools

Level of technical expertise indesigning/implementing private

cloud infrastructure




16

Further analysis

Sector

The retail, private healthcare, and manufacturing sector

respondents are the most likely to look to partner companies

for help, with just over eight in ten in each (82%, 83%, and

83% respectively) looking for help from an external vendor.

Financial services respondents are the least likely to look to a

partner company; 52% reporting they will do so. This shows

that those respondents who have already adopted cloud are

also more likely to look to partners for help with the

technology. Note that more than half of the respondents from

sectors least likely to be adopting cloud, are also looking for

help from outside the business.

Country

Of the ITDMs surveyed, the respondents from China are most

likely to be looking to partner companies for help with cloud,

where 92% intend to work with an external partner. These

respondents have been an early adopter of cloud and it is

interesting to see that these same respondents in China are

also most willing to look for external help. A significant

number of respondents in other markets also favor this

external partner approach, with 86% in Brazil looking to

partner companies for help with a robust cloud strategy, 84%

in the USA, 62% in Japan, 61% in France and 60% in

Australia (figure 26). This shows how the want of respondents

to team with partner companies is relevant across the

geographies.

Figure 26: “Are you looking to partner organizations to help establish

a robust cloud strategy?” ‘Yes’ by country Asked to all respondents

(750)

84%

86%

49%

50%

61%

53%

62%

92%

60%

USA

Brazil

UK

Germany

France

Sweden

Japan

China

Australia




17

Conclusion

A robust strategy and business focused user experience are keys to the success of private cloud

The study reveals that cloud computing environments have

been implemented to some extent in the majority of

enterprises and are seen by IT decision makers (ITDMs) as

key in helping transform businesses to be more successful.

ITDMs see a multitude of business benefits arising from the

use of public and private cloud computing environments

including improved efficiency, improved agility and reduced

costs, but most also agree there are challenges with cloud.

For all of the benefits of cloud, there is clearly an issue of

complexity resulting from cloud sprawl that is having an

adverse effect on enterprises. The fact that many employees

are bypassing the IT department and subscribing to cloud

services on their own has resulted in inefficiencies for the

integration and management with back-office business

systems and applications. Business owners may believe they

are achieving the quick and easy solution they want when

they bypass their IT department. But the reality experienced is

that issues begin to surface when this off-radar use of cloud

services must be integrated with the backend systems of the

business. Not only is this leading to inefficiencies but there is

also the concern of additional risk being introduced into the

ecosystem of the business with the use of unsanctioned cloud

services.

Seven in ten of the ITDMs surveyed believe that business

owners are looking to IT to provide an experience more akin

to that of public cloud providers. IT needs to win back their

internal business customers and help stem the tide of

employees signing up for outside services without IT’s input.

Businesses are demanding that their IT department have the

same transparency as public cloud providers and that they

also provide the same level of “ease of use” and “on demand”

services with internal private cloud environments. In essence,

they want IT to be easier to do business with.

The study reveals there is a strong continued investment

trend in private cloud technologies with 75% of respondents

intending to invest in private cloud environments in the future.

Private cloud is important to these ITDMs today and will

continue to be strategic for these enterprises for some time.

Private cloud provides many business benefits as well as a

desired environment to host certain applications where

security and compliance are concerns. In fact the research

shows that of those looking to invest in private cloud in the

future, an impressive 71% are planning in-house deployments

for at least some of their environments.

Both public and private clouds have their advantages and the

research reveals that over half have adopted, to some extent,

both within their enterprises. But, today the vast majority of

public and private cloud installations are separate

deployments. In many cases, separate stand-alone,

individually managed environments are operated, potentially

by many different groups within the company. ITDMs

understand that integrated cloud environments can provide

business benefits in many cases and are preparing to extend

and integrate their private clouds to create hybrid cloud

environments. They are looking to take advantage of hybrid

clouds and build it as part of their strategy. Why is this? One

reason may be a hybrid cloud environment permits them to

use the cloud technologies that are best suited to a given

purpose while IT still maintains control.

Even with the foreseen growth in private cloud and the trend

toward an integrated hybrid cloud future, the question still

remains: how can IT offer what their internal business

customers are looking for? When it comes to the self-service

management aspect, business owners expect a self-service

tool where ’simplicity is key’. How does IT become more like a

public cloud provider to their internal business customers?

Even if they want to, they struggle as the tools just don’t

provide what is needed for business owners. IT wants to

provide self-service, easy to use tools and sees value in it. IT

can also become an internal service provider to the business

and cross charge for IT services in the process. In the end, IT

will be perceived as easier to do business with by

empowering business owners to interact with private clouds

just as they do with public clouds.

IT can take private cloud to new heights by delivering what

the business needs. The lessons learned in the way business

users interact with public cloud can actually make IT more

responsive and effective in the private cloud world thus

resulting in added value to the business.

The net of it all is, IT cannot be an impediment to business -

IT must be more business friendly and effective with the

private cloud services they provide to their internal customers.

The issue is that most ITDMs are struggling to do this and

over two-thirds (69%) openly admit that they are looking to

partner with technology providers to help them establish a

robust cloud strategy to get it done right. They also want help

implementing the best private cloud solutions and tools for

their enterprise, customized for their unique needs and

specific business priorities. Collaborating with a skilled and

knowledgeable partner can help avoid the issues of sprawl

and the pressures of employees using unauthorized

environments. A private cloud strategy must have a focus on

the alignment between business and IT. This approach will

benefit not only the IT department and business owner but

also the business as a whole.




18

Recommendations

Align private cloud and business strategy

Taking the business benefits of private cloud to new heights

requires a team approach between IT and business owners.

Enterprises are looking for business oriented solutions which

demands strong collaboration and understanding between

business owners and IT. The solution must be one that can

be tailored to needs of the business owners while still

providing the governance and control required by the

enterprise. In order to make private cloud more impactful for

the business:

Learn from business owners. IT needs to involve

business owners and determine what they really desire. Work as a team to define which specific scenarios will most benefit the business by adopting private cloud. A common example would be building private cloud capability in support of application development and test projects to gain better agility and faster internal service capabilities.

Offer a business service, not technology infrastructure. Do not take a technical,

infrastructure view to private cloud. IT should be offering a cloud service to address business scenarios to internal business customers. Adopt a private cloud solution that is understood by and meaningful to the business. Cloud and virtualization technology and capabilities are pervasive, but not very valuable unless they can be easily understood and leveraged to grow the business.

Keep an eye on the future. With many different

private cloud platforms and vendors to choose from, IT should choose one that is extensible and will grow with the needs of the business. For example, it will be important to maintain a consistent and familiar self-service capability for business owners regardless of whether resources are being requested and deployed in private, public or hybrid cloud environments.

Look for a partner. A skilled and experienced

partner can help empower the business with the right cloud strategy, solutions and tools to enable enterprises to take full advantage of cloud and gain maximum business value. Choose a partner who not only has deep technical expertise in cloud but one that also has the business and industry understanding, tools and methodologies to ensure long term success.

To learn how Avanade’s experts can deliver a private cloud solution to help empower your enterprise to rapidly respond to the ever changing demands of business while reducing costs and optimizing operations visit our private solution site or contact us.

http://www.avanade.com/us/offerings/pages/private-cloud.aspx

http://www.avanade.com/us/offerings/pages/private-cloud.aspx

http://www.avanade.com/us/pages/contact.aspx?ref=http://www.avanade.com/us/offerings/pages/private-cloud.aspx&country=India


Private cloud

About Avanade

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and managed services that connect insight,

innovation and expertise in Microsoft®

technologies to help customers realize results.

Our people have helped thousands of

organizations in all industries improve business

agility, employee productivity and customer

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www.avanade.com.

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About Vanson Bourne:

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