In cloud computing for enterprise development, a movement towards hybrid clouds has been observed for quite some time, and is now coming into clearer focus: in a study for the Avanade consultancy, Wakefield Research Analysts have published the current figures. The study reveals that managers from the business sector are currently pushing towards hybrid clouds, and that 72 percent of them want to build one within the next three years. Among IT managers, however, that figure is only 58 percent. A total of 76 percent of business managers would also like to run business-critical applications such as data & analytics, office applications, and customer-oriented services in hybrid clouds. They are convinced that implementing a hybrid cloud will confer competitive advantages on their companies.
That, however, is still a distant mirage. Currently only a minority of companies are taking concrete steps toward a hybrid cloud infrastructure, and 58 percent of respondents have not formulated any hybrid-cloud strategy. And of those companies that do already have a corresponding strategy, 73 per cent have no plans to implement applications that have been written specifically for the cloud. This means, on the other hand, that they cannot exploit all the advantages the cloud offers. Instead, it was clear from the worldwide poll of 1000 executives that 71 per cent of the companies would move only their existing applications to the cloud. This tallies with the observation of the analysts that in many companies there is still great ignorance of the practical benefits that cloud computing in general and hybrid clouds in particular can bring. A summary of the study results can be downloaded at no charge from Avanade.