It's time to define the HYBRID Strategy !

S Mohini Ratna, Editor, VARINDIA

Technology is evolving at an unprecedented rate. The rapid evolution of technology is having a profound impact on our lives, changing the way we work and most important is the investment one has done by listening to Corporates branding and marketing.

During the pandemic the business of cloud has accelerated the move to the cloud for many enterprises and SMEs. This is due to a number of factors, including the need for remote work capabilities, the need for increased security and scalability, and the need to reduce IT costs.

The move to the cloud has created a number of opportunities for cloud companies to offer a wide range of services, including infrastructure as a service (IaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), and software as a service (SaaS). Cloud companies also offer a variety of features, such as disaster recovery, backup, and security.

Increasing cloud costs have led many corporations to adopt a hybrid cloud strategy. A hybrid cloud strategy is one that uses a combination of public and private cloud/ on-Premise infrastructures. This can help organizations to save money on cloud costs, while also providing them with the flexibility and scalability that they need.

Today, cloud computing is used by businesses of all sizes, from small businesses to large enterprises. The move has benefitted the large hyperscalers, such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform (GCP), do benefit from economies of scale.

Many enterprises and SMEs are realising that, cloud computing is very expensive than the traditional on-premises IT, if you don't use it efficiently. With this the move towards Cloud repatriation is happening at faster track, and with this the data and applications are moving from a public cloud provider back to an on-premises environment.

One reason is that organizations are concerned about data security and privacy. When data is stored in a public cloud, it is accessible to the cloud provider. This can be a concern for organizations that handle sensitive data, such as financial data or healthcare data.

Another reason for cloud repatriation is that organizations are concerned about compliance. Some industries, such as financial services and healthcare are subject to strict regulations that require them to keep data within their own control. It has also been found that increasing adoption of cloud computing is very expensive and there is sharp increase in data breaches. This is because cloud computing makes it easier for attackers to access sensitive data.

Today enterprises are spending about 2% of turnover on the cloud strategy, which is on the higher side and this number is expected to reach 10% of turnover by 2025. It is time for the Enterprises and SMEs to check their check and balances to define their Hybrid strategy.

Going forward, as more and more businesses move their workloads to the cloud, the demand for hardware has decreased. Hardware OEMs can sell servers, storage, and networking equipment that can be used in hybrid cloud environments. The market for hybrid cloud is growing rapidly. In 2022, the global market for hybrid cloud was valued at $135.5 billion. This market is expected to grow to $257.7 billion by 2027.

With increased adoption of cloud computing there is significant impact on the hardware industry. And with the increased adoption of Cloud repatriation, brings respite for the hardware vendors to sell their products. It can help them reduce costs, improve scalability, and improve security.

At the same time, it is also acknowledged that the pandemic has changed the way people work, and that a hybrid work model is the most likely future of work. Now the responsibility lies on the CIOs to make an informed decision about which data to store in the cloud and which to keep on-premises.

The reason behind companies adopting on premise infrastructure is mainly because security of their data, and companies want to have more control over their IT systems. With on-premise infrastructure companies have the ability to choose the hardware and software that they use, and they can also make changes to their systems as needed. The adoption of on-premise infrastructure has been a boon for hardware vendors.

Overall, a hybrid cloud strategy is a better option for enterprises and SMEs, that want to take advantage of the benefits of both on-premises and cloud computing. Hybrid cloud can be a cost-effective and flexible way for organizations to meet their IT needs.