APAC Hybrid IT Readiness Report shows hybrid IT is here to stay

The CenturyLink Asia Pacific Hybrid IT Readiness Report* 2016 has four key takeaways:

Source: Frost & Sullivan presentation. Concerns around cloud and managed services from respondents of the CenturyLink Asia Pacific Hybrid IT Readiness Report* 2016.

The hybrid IT environment is here to stay
Hybrid IT leverages both on-premise and cloud environments to give enterprises optimum benefits. It is the best solution for managing workloads that have specific security or compliance requirements and large variances in demand. However, these advantages and implications have to be better conveyed to enterprises.

Ajay Sunder, VP - Telecoms, Frost & Sullivan Asia Pacific, noted that respondents are moving from combining their infrastructure themselves to "looking for a provider who can help them with an overall hybrid IT approach". While hybrid IT is here to stay, different interpretations of the hybrid IT concept could lead to misunderstanding, Sunder said. "Work still needs to be done," he said.

Security remains an important consideration in the overall service portfolio
As IT infrastructure is expanding and diversifying rapidly, security will continue to be an area of focus for enterprise IT decision makers. Besides investing in new security solutions, a hybrid IT-friendly security model that enables enterprises to leverage expertise, stay updated and manage data with greater visibility and control will be required.

Security has been both a major driver towards hybrid IT as well as a major hindrance, Sunder pointed out. "What enterprises are realising is that the bad guys out there are getting smarter and they might need help improving security policy governance," he said.

At the same time, there are concerns (about) service providers. "(They are asking) how will they manage my own security guidelines, how will they manage my own security frameworks?" he explained.

Managed service providers will need to provide tailored solutions
A one-size-fits-all IT strategy will not work. Digital transformation is a journey and enterprises will be at varying stages of the maturity curve. The uniqueness of business needs will demand varying IT architectures and thereby a solution-led approach by service providers and technology partners.

Enterprises want to know how to move forward rather than the best model for them
Their next steps will be to create a seamless, unified and integrated environment with traditional and on-cloud workloads.

Specific findings include:

There is a paradigm shift in the role of IT from being operational to more strategic with an expected ability to offer guidance across business units to help define, develop and deploy innovative digital business applications. 

Role of IT
 as achieving growth momentum: overall 63%, Singapore 67%
 as assurance in providing risk mitigation plans: overall 55%, Singapore 52%
 as a platform to digitally transform the organisation: overall 50%, Singapore 51%

The hybrid IT model helps to create an IT environment with the optimal infrastructure that optimises IT investments and accommodates a variety of workloads. It is expected to be the answer to building the right mix of private, public and managed clouds, as well as traditional IT infrastructure, unique to the organisation.  

Hybrid IT awareness level
 Aware of the hybrid IT deployment model: overall 73%, Singapore 59%
 Not aware of the hybrid IT deployment model: overall 27%, Singapore 41%

Outsourcing to third party service providers continues to gain popularity among organisations as a means to reduce complexity and gain expert support as they manage their IT environments.

Source: Frost & Sullivan presentation. Circled sections show what Singapore respondents are most concerned about when it comes to going to a managed services provider.

Drivers for going to a managed services provider
 Risk mitigation - security (data and infrastructure): overall 84%, Singapore 83%
 Risk mitigation - compliance and regulatory: overall 67%, Singapore 56%
 Business priority - cost reductions: overall 62%, Singapore 55%
 Digital growth - new use/forms of application: overall 59%, Singapore 41%
 Risk mitigation - lack of skilled manpower: overall 58%, Singapore 54%
 Digital growth - increase in data consumption: overall 58%, Singapore 47%
 Business priority - mergers and acquisitions: overall 54%, Singapore 46%
 Business priority - revenue model change: overall 52%, Singapore 44%
 Business priority - switching from CAPEX to OPEX: overall 63% Singapore 42%

Outsourced IT services include
 Enterprise applications: overall 75%, Singapore 76%
 Cloud: overall 68%, Singapore 52%
 Network implementation: overall 61%, Singapore 60%
 Data centre: overall 43%, Singapore 41%
 Security: overall 36%, Singapore 36%

Perceived risk attributed to an assortment of threat vectors, vulnerabilities and security operations are the biggest challenges to hybrid IT adoption.

Challenges in hybrid IT adoption
 Security concerns: overall 52%, Singapore 61%
 Reluctant senior management: overall 44%, Singapore 54%
 Migration/consolidation issues: overall 38%, Singapore 32%
 Challenges in identifying the right partner: overall 38%, Singapore 20%
 Regulatory concerns: overall 29%, Singapore 25%

Australia was strongest around security as a driver for managed services, while hybrid IT awareness was at a lower level in India and China. Singapore scored more highly on cost reduction as a driver, Sunder said.

"For Singapore it is a profit and loss (P and L) equation. There are a lot of headquarters in Singapore, and a lot of financial decision making happens in Singapore," he said.

Interested?

The CenturyLink Asia Pacific Hybrid IT Readiness Report 2016 surveyed 600 decision-makers across six key APAC markets in September 2016. Download the report

View the infographics: Hybrid IT, Security, and Service Delivery Improvements (PDFs)

Read the TechTrade Asia blog post on the report overview

Read the TechTrade Asia blog post about CenturyLink's focus on hybrid IT 

*The CenturyLink Asia Pacific Hybrid IT Readiness Report surveyed 600 decision-makers across six key markets in the region – Australia, mainland China, Hong Kong, India, Japan and Singapore – in September 2016. Respondents participated in detailed interactions to share insights on the IT priorities, IT infrastructure needs and the planned way forward.