The days of building computing models on mainframe and client servers are long gone, with enterprises now fully focused on expanding their infrastructure into some form of cloud platform. In 2017, 57% of organisations had already adopted a hybrid approach, combining the security and performance of on-premise infrastructure with the agile and cost-saving benefits of the public cloud.
This shift towards the cloud is only going in one direction. Indeed, the Hybrid Cloud market alone is set to grow by almost a fifth (17%) to $97.64 billion by 2023 as businesses increasingly realise its cost, efficiency, agility, mobility and elasticity benefits, according to insight from Markets and Markets.
However, many enterprises still hold concerns around fully embracing the hybrid IT future. So with that in mind, here’s our guide to dispelling the most common hybrid myths:
Myth 1: My data won’t be secure in the cloud
Security remains the biggest barrier to cloud adoption, with more than three quarters of businesses (77%) citing it as a challenge. But this assumption could not be further from the truth – in fact, security can be an enabler of your journey to the cloud.
Hybrid Cloud enables enterprises to maintain a tight grip on their more sensitive, confidential data while placing less sensitive information into the public cloud. In fact, there have been very few security breaches in the public cloud and the majority of breaches still occur in traditional on-premise data centre environments.
Myth 2: I have to give up control of my data
Losing control of data has regularly been cited as a key factor in businesses holding back from adopting the cloud. But this is no longer the case as businesses are now able to seize control of their data through solutions that help them keep data on-premise and access the cloud via reliable, high-speed private connections.
The beauty of Hybrid Cloud is that it enables enterprises to get the best of both worlds – efficiently delivering public and private resources and providing control and visibility to IT teams. Moving certain systems or data to the cloud doesn’t mean you have to rip up your existing infrastructure and place it all in the cloud, it’s a case of whatever suits best.
Myth 3: It’s cloud or nothing
Many businesses still work with legacy systems, or data and applications that either aren’t suited to being housed in the cloud, must be retained on-premise for regulatory purposes, or are too business-critical for cloud. So, don’t think that embracing the cloud means you’re in the cloud for good, it’s still acceptable to propose non-cloud solutions for certain systems and applications, and that’s the benefit of a hybrid approach.
Myth 4: Cloud will make my job harder work
On the contrary, colocated Hybrid Cloud can actually simplify IT for many enterprises. Not only does it minimise the amount of hardware the IT team needs to manage and maintain, it also connects multiple customers to their preferred public cloud offering or connects a single customer to multiple clouds.
Myth 5: Cloud won’t guarantee bandwidth
Many IT decision makers have harboured doubts over the bandwidth, latency and potential impact on service delivery that cloud providers can offer them. But using a carrier-neutral data centre eradicates these concerns, offering direct connectivity to major public clouds and a wide range of partners which are capable of building a highly reliable, high bandwidth cloud. This approach offers better performance, reduced latency and enhanced security without the cost of building it yourself.
Enterprises need to set aside their doubts and rid themselves of the common myths that have long surrounded the cloud. Cloud adoption is increasing rapidly as enterprises realise the value and opportunity of a colocated hybrid approach and seize advantage of the cloud truths. The time of cloud fear is over as we move towards the challenges of integration, management and maintaining and improving service levels.
To find out how Interxion can help your business thrive in the cloud, read more about our Cloud Connect service.
