Fujitsu highlights growing demand for multi-cloud flexibility

Issued by CoCre8
Munich, 20 Feb 2019

News facts:

* Survey reveals that organisations with hybrid combinations of traditional and multi-cloud IT are carefully balancing between the advantages of cloud agility and the risk of new forms of vendor lock-in.
* Sourcing flexibility, to avoid vendor lock-in, is the most important consideration for hybrid IT users, cited by 80% of respondents.
* For organisations adopting hybrid combinations of traditional and cloud IT, 48% say integration and orchestration is their biggest barrier.

Fujitsu today publishes new research highlighting the growing demand for flexibility, proven orchestration skills and consolidated management for hybrid IT and multi-cloud estates, as organisations maintain a careful balance between the agility of cloud computing and the risk of complexity and vendor lock-in.

Driven by the need for faster digital transformation, hybrid IT estates have become the norm, with the most successful customers opting for a 'right workload for the right cloud platform' approach. But, this is also creating new types of complexity, with the risk of vendor lock-in highlighted in the results of a new study: Where is hybrid heading? Views on exploiting multi-modal IT, conducted among 400 IT decision-makers in eight countries by research firm Pierre Audoin Consultants (PAC), on behalf of Fujitsu1.

Sourcing flexibility, which helps avoid vendor lock-in by diversifying supply chains, has risen to become the most important consideration for hybrid IT adoption, rated as "business critical" or of "high importance" by about 80% of respondents. In a market where more than half (55%) of all organisations with hybrid IT are already mostly cloud-based, sourcing flexibility is also key, as cited by 86%.

The need to achieve transformational change more quickly becomes obvious when considering that three-quarters of organisations rate the ability for their IT to respond quickly to events as either "business critical" or "highly important". Greater agility is also clearly more than hype, with 79% confirming this as a benefit of hybrid IT adoption, as a response to competitive pressure where IT systems cannot be allowed to hold back digital transformation programs.

This emphasis on speed of response also helps explain why 63% of hybrid IT users in the survey regard faster delivery and more reliable business outcomes as the most compelling reason to partner with a service provider for cloud and traditional IT delivery. Findings also highlight that integration and orchestration is the biggest barrier facing organisations looking to build, connect and optimise hybrid IT environments, with just under half (48%) of all respondents indicating it is a major challenge, and only one in 10 (10%) not having any problems with integration and orchestration.

Managing complexity

While other studies have found a clear tendency for enterprises to move towards multiple cloud adoption, PAC's report finds a marked disinclination to take on management of multiple similar clouds. About 90% of respondents in the transport and public sectors prefer to have consolidated management from a single supplier for each type of cloud. Overall, across all vertical markets, between two-thirds and three-quarters of respondents plan to appoint a single supplier for each type of cloud, with an overall average of 76%.

Mark Phillips, Head of Digital Pursuits, Fujitsu EMEIA, says: "Now that cloud has become mainstream, it's no longer a land grab and organisations have become a lot more selective when it comes to deploying cloud services. On the one hand, they are alert to a new risk of vendor lock-in and have come up with viable strategies to offset this. On the other hand, they are convinced that cloud really does give them the ability to respond to the pressures of disruption and see partnering with leading global systems integrators like Fujitsu as the best way to speed up and de-risk cloud adoption and management. This is particularly the case with integration and orchestration, which they see as the biggest hurdle to jump, something we have also addressed in a new report: The state of orchestration, 2018/2019".

1 During August and September 2018, PAC interviewed 401 business and IT decision-makers of organisations that are already using hybrid IT. Respondents were from an even mix of mid-sized and larger organisations (only organisations with at least 500 employees were invited to take part in the study) and were selected mostly from the financial services, retail, manufacturing, transport and public sector verticals.

The sample was evenly divided into respondents from Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, India, The Netherlands, Sweden and the UK.

Online resources

* Read the Fujitsu blog: http://blog.ts.fujitsu.com
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* Find Fujitsu on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/FujitsuICT
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Fujitsu South Africa

The evolving nature of every business means changes, enhancements and upgrades to its data centre infrastructure. Businesses are finding data centre upgrades to be not only disruptive, but also costly. There is a constant need to retrain and re-skill data centre staff in order to effectively manage applications while ensuring data availability, security and energy consumption optimisation. Not to mention maintaining compliance and service level agreements.

Fujitsu South Africa's approach to servers, mainframes, storage and integrated systems offers the flexibility to tailor data centre technologies to its customers' specific requirements. It provides the benefits of secure, robust, future-proofed technologies from a single source supported by a unique, consultative approach. This ensures you get exactly what your organisation demands, bringing true business value to companies.

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Fujitsu

Fujitsu is the leading Japanese ICT company, offering a full range of technology products, solutions, and services. Approximately 140 000 Fujitsu people support customers in more than 100 countries. Fujitsu uses its experience and the power of ICT to shape the future of society with its customers. Fujitsu (TSE: 6702) reported consolidated revenues of 4.1 trillion yen (US $39 billion) for the fiscal year ended 31 March 2018. For more information, please see http://www.fujitsu.com.

Fujitsu EMEIA

Fujitsu promotes a Human Centric Intelligent Society, in which innovation is driven by the integration of people, information and infrastructure. In the Europe, Middle East, India and Africa region (EMEIA), Fujitsu's 27 000-strong workforce is committed to Digital Co-creation, blending business expertise with digital technology and creating new value with ecosystem partners and customers. Fujitsu enables its customers to digitally transform with connected technology services, focused on artificial intelligence, the Internet of things, and cloud, all underpinned by security. For more information, please visit http://www.fujitsu.com/fts/about/.

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