IN 2024, WILL BUSINESSES BE OPERATING ON CLOUD 9, OR LIVING IN CLOUD CUCKOO LAND

It’s a question more and more organisations are starting to ask.

According to research from Gartner, around two thirds of operations and infrastructure managers will wrestle with unexpectedly high Cloud costs throughout 2024 – with the unwelcome side effect of taking budget away from their on-premises allocations.

The truth is, contrary to what many organisations have historically been led to believe, simply “lifting and shifting” your on-premises workloads and throwing them into Cloud containers does not guarantee that everything will run cheaply and efficiently.

Research shows that:

• 79% of organisations feel a portion of their Cloud spending is “wasted.”
• 60% of organisations are spending 2-3 times more on Cloud than originally budgeted for.
• 50% of CEOs are very or extremely concerned about growing Cloud expenditure.

The uncomfortable reality is that, as with many things in life, the Cloud is only as beneficial as you make it. Realising your desired cost savings, efficiencies, resilience, and innovation requires upfront investment and careful, detailed considerations.

The pandemic saw organisations prioritise innovation over everything else, resulting in a general over-pivot to the Cloud. This created challenges relating to regulatory concerns, rising Public Cloud costs, a growing carbon footprint, and management complexities.

As we approach 2024, macroeconomic, sustainability and cost pressures are starting to bite, and businesses are being forced to rebalance their Cloud strategies. This means a sharper focus on resilience and efficiency.

GETTING THE BALANCE RIGHT

Research by the IDC revealed that the top three IT efficiency tactics initiated by technology leaders in 2023 were:

• Focus on technology initiatives with faster payback (48%).
• Focus on spreading resources, skills, and development efforts across several Cloud and infrastructure platforms (34%).
• Focus on controlling Cloud operational expenditures (29%)

But where do you start? We believe there are three key secrets to success:

1. Matching workloads to the appropriate infrastructure
2. Prioritising investments
3. Appreciating the value of Hybrid Cloud

IT ALL STARTS WITH RIGHT WORKLOAD, RIGHT CLOUD

Migrating applications to or back from the Cloud is not for the faint-hearted, and it’s essential to assign the right workloads to the right environment. This means accurately assessing which applications are worth the time, effort, and resources needed to move them to the Cloud, and which are better suited to an on-premises environment.

There’s no doubt that both environments have benefits and challenges, which is why it’s impossible to categorically state which one is better than the other. Taking a Workload-by-Workload approach is the only way to ensure you have the best environment for each individual application.

It’s important to note, however, that the Hybrid Cloud is not a silver bullet. But, if executed correctly, it offers better flexibility, governance, and security than an all- Cloud or all-legacy environment.

But even in this case, it’s possible to leverage advances such as AI services and/or machine learning to help make your data smarter and enable faster decision making without disrupting the application’s code base. So, what are some of the factors to consider when determining Workload placement?

• Business-critical, regulated workloads, structured databases, and homegrown apps are usually best suited to an on-premises, colocation, and traditional DC Edge environments.
• File sharing and content management, Big Data analytics, VDI, archiving workloads and backup, and Disaster Recovery might work best on Private or Public Cloud.
• IoT and predictive maintenance, collaboration and email, Edge analytics and smart grids work best in modern Edge environments.

CHOOSING THE RIGHT CLOUD PARTNER

As we’ve seen, Hybrid Cloud data strategies mean organisations can optimise resilience, scale productivity, and pioneer customer engagement. However, they also pose challenges for resource optimisation, data security and governance.

This is when the expertise of a global partner like Fujitsu is invaluable.

Traditionally operating mainly in the hardware space, Fujitsu has evolved into a formidable Cloud provider, making significant investment into AI, quantum computing, and high-performance computing capabilities.

Plans to build one of the largest data centres in Japan are well underway, supporting Fujitsu’s digital transformation strategy and providing a reliable and secure infrastructure for the company’s Cloud services. As the sole provider in Africa of Fujitsu’s Hybrid Cloud offering, CoCre8 is perfectly positioned to help you balance your Cloud requirements and move your business forward.

If you’re ready to reclaim your Cloud strategy and unlock the full potential of your IT environment, then join us on the path to business-driven mastery of the Hybrid Cloud and start optimising your IT infrastructure for reduced costs and increased efficiency.

IT’S TIME TO CLOUD ON YOUR TERMS. LET’S GROW.

With CoCre8 and Fujitsu, Cloud management just got a whole lot smarter. CoCre8 can transform your enterprise with Fujitsu Hybrid Cloud solutions. Partner with us for a resilient, adaptable and scalable Cloud foundation.

Control the Cloud and advance your business with flexible deployment solutions that won’t cost the Earth.