According to the CenturyLink report, the most popular types of applications being run on outsourced infrastructure are online applications such as websites and e-commerce (48%), applications used for back-office services such as finance and enterprise resource planning (43%) and disaster recovery/business continuity planning solutions (31%).
And, according to Stuart Mills, CenturyLink’s regional director for Australia and New Zealand,Australian organisations are "increasingly dependent on the latest technology to achieve business goals."
|
|
Mills says there is some resistance to hybrid IT in the Australian market and suggests this could be because it's still a relatively new concept, and many businesses are not yet aware of the benefits, or because there is some mistrust with current Cloud providers about reliability, performance and platform integration.
"We believe we have solved this with CenturyLink Cloud – which has been demonstrated to be the fastest Cloud amongst the top vendors, has the highest Service Level Guarantee for Cloud amongst the top vendors, and is natively VMWare so will integrate with the 80% of corporate workloads being run on VMware in Australia.
"The agility offered by hybrid IT is becoming a top business priority for organisations competing in the Australian market. For example, CenturyLink's Australian Hybrid IT Adoption index found that almost half of organisations are currently using a managed service provider for data centre colocation.
"Companies just beginning their hybrid IT journey should first establish their core business strategies and goals. From this point it's easier to reach them safely with the help of a hybrid IT solutions provider.
“Successful hybrid IT planning needs to begin with a clear understanding of the organisation’s existing IT capabilities, business objectives and workloads.The key is to identify which areas are not performing optimally and decide whether the organisation needs to supplement those in-house capabilities with external expertise."
According to the report, the most popular types of applications being run on outsourced infrastructure are online applications such as websites and e-commerce (48% ), applications used for back-office services such as finance and enterprise resource planning (43%) and disaster recovery/business continuity planning solutions (31%).
And, security is the main concern for 78% of organisations when looking for data centre colocation and outsourcing due to the increasing number, variety and sophistication of cyber-attacks.
CenturyLink says a perceived lack of security is also cited as the main barrier to moving infrastructure into a hybrid IT model for 29%of companies.
CenturyLink also says that survey respondents who are considering a hybrid IT approach are looking for providers that can deliver a full spectrum of security products and services that fit their business and technology needs perfectly, including outsourced experts that can act as an internal security team, and the ability to deliver comprehensive protection inside the company’s offices, the data centre (on-premise, outsourced, or third-party) or in the cloud.
According to Mills,the Australian report underscores findings in a recent IDG Research study in the United States, which found that companies across the globe have plans to engage outside technology and planning expertise within the next few years.
In addition, Mills observes, the IDG Managed IT Services report, sponsored by CenturyLink, found that IT decision makers are increasingly exploring hybrid IT solutions and evaluating service providers that offer a breadth of services.
The Australian Hybrid IT Adoption Index surveyed 150 decision-makers in a variety of industries during August and Septemberand to download the full report click here.
