Fewer than one in five (18%) IT professionals believe their current cloud infrastructure meets their business needs, indicating a large gap between expectations and reality when it comes to cloud adoption.
That’s according to new data from SolarWinds, based on a survey of 272 global IT professionals, which shows that despite the cloud’s promise of scalability and cost savings, the reality for many IT teams is mixed: only a quarter of respondents (25%) feel their organization’s approach to the cloud is carefully considered and successful, while 23% admit their hybrid cloud strategy has created an overly complex IT environment. Despite this, less than a quarter (22%) of respondents have invested in external IT services to help them with their cloud migration strategy.
In response to these cloud challenges, more than one in ten (16%) respondents have already repatriated workloads back to on-premise environments. Meanwhile, another 12% admit that poorly planned cloud transitions have already had long-term financial impacts on their organizations. This shows that rushed cloud migrations can lead to costly repairs or reversals.
The data also suggests a lack of confidence in cloud security, with nearly half (46%) of IT professionals still storing their most sensitive data locally due to ongoing security concerns. However, the findings highlight the continued focus on cloud strategies to reduce costs. In fact, nearly a third (29%) of respondents say they favor migrating to the cloud to reduce operational costs.
Sascha Giese, Global Technology Evangelist at SolarWinds, said: “The truth is that managing complex hybrid cloud ecosystems is not easy. While the cloud promises scalability and cost savings, the gap between expectation and realization is becoming increasingly apparent. In this environment, many businesses struggle with an overly complex infrastructure trying to meet evolving needs.
“In a hybrid cloud world with increasingly complex networks, systems, devices and applications, managing microservices and containers is a challenge. Without proper planning and end-to-end visibility, organizations risk finding themselves in dire straits. Tool proliferation, information silos, and alert fatigue can all lead to an unpleasant cloud experience, making it difficult to identify the root causes of complex problems.
“To overcome these challenges, IT leaders must take a more strategic and informed approach to cloud migration, focusing on tools that are reliable, secure and accelerate modernization. One key advantage businesses can use to successfully manage their hybrid cloud infrastructures is comprehensive observability. This means gaining real-time insight into every layer of the IT environment and acting proactively with the help of machine learning algorithms and AI-driven analytics. Cloud infrastructure can be a powerful tool for growth, but with a jumble of disparate tools and poor visibility, it’s going to be a bumpy ride.”
The IT Community Pulse survey findings are based on research conducted in September 2024, with responses from 272 respondents from the SolarWinds THWACK community.
This includes IT professionals across a range of practitioner, manager and director roles in Europe, the Americas and Asia Pacific. Respondents are from a mix of public and private sectors across small, medium and large organisations.
