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From Hype to Hybrid, Part 1: The Realities of Cloud Adoption

Mark Katz
CTO, Financial Services

June 27, 2024

The cloud revolution has swept across businesses of all sizes, promising agility, scalability, and cost savings. But the initial rush to migrate everything to the public cloud has given way to a more measured approach: hybrid cloud. This 3-part Insights series will explore the challenges customers face and unpack potential solutions for overcoming them.

The Realities of Hybrid Cloud Adoption and the Need for Rightsizing

In recent years, the rush to embrace public cloud services has transformed how businesses manage their IT infrastructure. However, this rapid adoption has revealed a critical need for a more balanced approach, rise of hybrid cloud environments. As companies strive to optimize their cloud strategies, understanding the challenges and best practices of hybrid cloud adoption is essential.

The initial foray into public cloud services began with a headlong rush to migrate as many workloads as possible. This trend, which gained significant momentum about two years ago, was driven by the promise of scalability, flexibility, and innovation. However, as companies settled into their new cloud environments, they began to realize that not all workloads were well-suited for the

Cost overruns, security issues, regulatory compliance, and privacy concerns surfaced, prompting businesses to reassess their cloud strategies. Many found that the financial model of public cloud services was more expensive than anticipated, sometimes exceeding the cost of maintaining on-premises infrastructure. This period of "rightsizing" has been crucial in determining which workloads perform best in the cloud and which should remain on-premises. Read Our Insights Article to learn more about why it’s Time to Rethink the Cloud.

Embracing the Hybrid Cloud: A Balanced Approach

As companies navigate their cloud journeys, it has become clear that a fully virtual, public cloud-only approach is not practical for most. Instead, a hybrid cloud strategy—combining on-premises, private cloud, and public cloud environments—offers a more flexible and efficient solution. This blend of on-premises infrastructure and public cloud services offers the best of both worlds, but it also presents unique challenges, particularly when it comes to data management.

A hybrid cloud environment allows businesses to leverage the best of both worlds. On-premises infrastructure can handle workloads that require stringent security, compliance, or low-latency performance, while public cloud services can provide scalability and innovation for other workloads. The challenge for IT departments is to modernize their on-premises infrastructure to deliver a cloud-like experience and manage the complexity of operating in a hybrid environment.

Delivering a Modern Automated IT Experience

Customers now expect a modern, automated IT experience similar to what public cloud services provide. This means minimizing manual intervention and utilizing automation tools like Terraform to manage infrastructure as code. By doing so, companies can ensure consistent and efficient deployment, reducing the administrative burden on IT teams.

To achieve this, businesses need to invest in products and solutions that are designed for cloud environments. These include node-based, scale-out, software-defined storage systems, and comprehensive automation suites that offer seamless, user-friendly management tools. Read our eBook to learn how simplifying enterprise storage using automation at scale is now possible.

Overcoming Two Major Challenges in Hybrid Environments

1. On-Premises Modernization: One of the primary challenges in a hybrid cloud strategy is transforming on-premises infrastructure to offer a cloud-like experience. This requires adopting the right products and solutions that enable automated, scalable, and flexible IT operations. By investing in advanced storage systems and automation tools, businesses can provide their users with the same level of convenience and efficiency they expect from public cloud services.

2. Managing Complexity: Operating in a hybrid environment involves managing applications and data across both public and private clouds. This complexity arises from the need to replicate and synchronize data, ensure regulatory compliance, and maintain operational continuity. Businesses must develop strategies to handle these challenges, such as implementing robust data replication solutions and maintaining consistent management and control practices across their hybrid environments.

I’ll delve deeper into these major challenges and strategies for overcoming them in my next two Insights Articles.

Conclusion: Charting Your Hybrid Cloud Path

As businesses continue to evolve their cloud strategies, embracing a hybrid cloud approach offers the flexibility and efficiency needed to meet their diverse IT requirements. By understanding the challenges and investing in the right products and automation tools, companies can successfully navigate the complexities of hybrid cloud environments.

We can help you modernize your on-premises infrastructure and effectively manage your hybrid cloud environment. Visit our solution page to learn more about how to define your path to cloud and Future-Proof Your Hybrid Cloud Infrastructure. Let’s embark on this journey together!

Additional Resources:

    Prev Beyond the Hype: Re-Thinking the Cloud Next Hybrid Cloud and the Rise of the Unified Data Ecosystem