It’s no news that cloud is among the most popular technology adoptions in Asia. Just as any other consumption pattern, each country has different dynamics and appetite to consume technology –this hypothesis applies to cloud too. Local economic factors, landscape of global and local providers, regulatory issues, infrastructure maturity as well as social and cultural adaptability to change are factors that directly or indirectly affect the adoption of cloud or the type of cloud services being opted by organizations. And this is an important reason for difference in the pattern of growth and adoption of cloud services globally and in Asia Pacific.
Enterprises in Asia need a cost effective solution with no compromise to security while gaining the benefits of agility. Business in this region has phenomenal global dependencies and predicting the IT landscape for next five years is impossible – even tougher is to segregate hype from reality when adopting new technologies. Now that unpredictability has become the ‘new normal’, cloud computing is bound to become central to enterprise strategy.
cost vs. security vs. scalability
Hybrid Cloud has come as a breather for enterprises who were struggling between the openness of public cloud and the cost of private cloud. When I speak to customers, our debate mostly covers the cost vs. security vs. scalability, which then moves on to enterprise architecture and mission critical and non-critical applications. It’s no surprise then, that Hybrid Cloud and IT as a Service Broker is among the Top 10 strategic Technology Trends for 2014 by Gartner.
Hybrid cloud is expected to see the highest adoption in Asia and will be a pillar for corporate IT, with the combined attributes of shared public and private cloud allowing required security levels (the CSO’s priority), agility and scalability (business and CIO’s priority), cost efficiency (CFO’s priority) and flexibility (end user’s priority).
So if you are struggling between these arguments, take a quick look at the top reasons that should encourage you to consider hybrid cloud.
1. cost reduction
Cost control is at the center of what IT does. Recent research showed that cloud users spend less money and spend it smarter. The ability to scale up and scale down app usage without the need to allocate additional resources means the possibility of using those resources and budget elsewhere. This scalability, plus the compatibility, integration and interoperability capabilities of hybrid cloud, and also the safety net of business continuity it offers, all mean time saved – and time equals money. Total cost of ownership (TCO) control and on-going reduction remains essential to IT spend.
2. security
Releasing control and outsourcing any element of your network means potential security risks, simply because all the computing assets of your network are no longer all on your premises. Concern about security threats can be one of the biggest barriers for organizations contemplating a cloud model, but with the right security protection in place, differentiated security levels tied to how critical are the applications and the right partnership with the right provider, security risks can be managed effectively.
3. business strategy alignment
Enterprise mobility is now central to every smart organization’s planning and strategy. What partnerships, growth or disinvestment strategy should we take? If hybrid cloud is not yet part of that conversation, it should be. Adopting the hybrid cloud model makes businesses more dynamic and adaptable. Companies with ambitious growth plans can use the hybrid cloud approach to deliver information to remote sites and get data closer to remote users. This also means being able to provide resources quickly and easily without the expense and hassle of investing upfront in new data center hardware.
4. reliability and flexibility
From a CIO’s perspective, hybrid cloud gives organizations the choice of where to place data – either in their own data centers or out in the public cloud, or ‘on the internet’. The more flexible and agile a company can be, the better it can respond to changes in circumstances and the better it can service its own customers. It also enhance the flexibility to push more rapidly mobile working, which in turn can improve productivity but also work-life balance so retention of key talents.
5. scalability
The on-demand nature of modern IT means bursts in demand for network performance and apps – and hybrid cloud delivers here too. It lets IT departments enlarge existing apps as and when needed, while end-users creating bursts of demand do not experience any drop in network performance. This is a key element of hybrid cloud – the ability to scale up or scale down IT operations without the need for unnecessary upgrade of the core infrastructure at the private cloud end..
Some of our top customers like Haier Group, the Chinese multinational consumer electronics and home appliances company, have opted for a service that will allow their headquarters in China to connect with its after-sale service center in India over a cloud-based platform. This will enable users to access business-critical applications anywhere, anytime. If you are still sitting on the fence, then it’s time to ask the questions and meet a service provider that can assess your specific needs and propose solutions tailored to your organization.
Eric Haïssaguerre
Eric Haïssaguerre is General Manager of Greater China for Orange Business and is responsible for leading the expansion of Orange’s digital transformation vision into key markets of China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Eric has over 20 years’ experience in Asia-Pacific and his remit has notably covered professional, integration and managed services for complex network, security, unified communications, cloud, IT infrastructure management, and vertical-specific M2M solutions.
Today, through injecting global innovation and delivering flexible ICT services & solutions, Eric focuses on helping customers fully optimize their IT environment and guarantee a successful and sustainable digital transformation.