NetApp has released its 2023 Cloud Complexity Report, detailing how IT decision-makers are handling cloud requirements emanating from digital transformation and AI initiatives. The report surveyed senior IT leaders worldwide and revealed that 98% of them had been affected by rising cloud complexity in some way.
The rise of cloud complexity, which may lead to poor IT performance and lost revenue, has brought issues of cost optimisation and cybersecurity to the fore. Among its key findings, the report revealed that 88% of companies worldwide were struggling to work across cloud environments, while 32% struggled to align on a clear vision at the leadership level. In Australia and New Zealand, increased cybersecurity risk was the top business impact of rising complexity, followed by staff not taking full advantage of business applications, increased scepticism over cloud from leadership, and lack of visibility into business operations.
According to the report, almost eight in 10 tech executives consider ESG outcomes critical to their cloud strategy, while 84% of them said their cloud strategy was already expected to show results across the organisation. Nearly half of the executives (49%) said that when cloud strategy discussions occurred, cost concerns were often raised. Additionally, 71% of ANZ tech executives said their multicloud strategy was driven by data sovereignty requirements.
Furthermore, the report revealed that over the next year, more than a third of tech executives surveyed reported that half or more of their cloud deployments would be supported by AI-driven applications. It also discovered that in the next year, 56% of ANZ tech executives reported that half or more of their cloud deployments would be supported by AI-driven applications. The report reveals a significant disconnect between IT and non-IT executives, with IT leaders most involved in cost and complexity issues and their non-IT counterparts yet to fully understand the challenges.
Randy Kerns, Senior Strategist & Analyst at the Evaluator Group, commented on the report, stating that “As customers express concerns with cloud implementation, vendors have the opportunity to build and offer solutions to simplify the process.” Ronen Schwartz, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Cloud Storage, NetApp, highlighted that “As cloud adoption accelerates and businesses innovate faster to compete, technology leaders are facing growing pressure to juggle multiple priorities at once, causing many to rethink how they manage efficiency and security in this new environment.”
