- New IBM Transformation Index: State of Cloud helps business
leaders to assess gaps in their transformation journey
- More than half of respondents are currently concerned about
security, while 53% believe ensuring compliance in the cloud is
currently too difficult
- Nearly 70% surveyed say their team lacks the skills needed
to sufficiently manage cloud environments
ARMONK,
N.Y., Sept. 28, 2022 /CNW/ -- New global market
research from IBM (NYSE: IBM) revealed that more than 77% of
respondents have adopted a hybrid cloud approach which can help
drive digital transformation, yet the majority of responding
organizations are struggling with the complexity to make all their
cloud environments work together. As organizations face skills
gaps, security challenges and compliance obstacles, less than one
quarter of respondents across the globe manage their hybrid cloud
environments holistically – which can create blind spots and put
data at risk.
The IBM Transformation Index: State of Cloud commissioned by IBM
and conducted by independent research firm, The Harris Poll, was
created to help organizations map their cloud transformation and
empower them to self-classify their progress. Built on a foundation
that leverages insights from experienced cloud professionals,
enterprises can use the Index to gain measurable metrics that can
help quantify their progress and uncover areas of opportunity and
growth. The Index consisted of more than 3,000 business and
technology decision-makers from 12 countries and across 15
industries including financial services, manufacturing, government,
telecommunications and healthcare, to understand where
organizations are advancing, or merely emerging, on their
transformation journeys.
The Index points to a strong correlation between hybrid cloud
adoption and progress in digital transformation. In fact, 71% of
those surveyed think it's difficult to realize the full potential
of a digital transformation without having a solid hybrid cloud
strategy in place. At the same time, only 27% of those surveyed
possess the necessary characteristics to be considered as
"advanced" in their transformation. So, why the disconnect? A
sampling of findings include:
- Compliance: Businesses believe ensuring compliance in
the cloud is currently too difficult – especially as we see
enforcement of regulatory and compliance requirements heat up
across the globe.
- Security: While businesses have embraced a variety of
security techniques to secure workloads in the cloud, concerns
about security still remain.
- Skills: As organizations face the realities of a talent
shortage, they are failing to implement a holistic hybrid cloud
strategy – which can create gaps in security and compliance and
cause risk across cloud environments.
"As we see regulatory requirements grow across the globe,
compliance is top of mind for business leaders. This concern is
even greater for those in highly regulated industries. Yet at the
same time, they are facing a growing threat landscape – one that
demands holistic management of their multicloud environments to
avoid the risks of a Frankencloud – an environment that's so
disconnected, it's difficult to navigate and can be nearly
impossible to secure, particularly against third and fourth party
risks," said Howard Boville, Head of
IBM Cloud Platform. "An integration strategy to bring together
these different piece parts is what we believe separates the
leaders from the rest of the pack – the alternative is to pay the
price of the Frankencloud."
"The key value of cloud for businesses is rapid access to
innovative technologies, data sources, and applications required to
navigate current disruptions and transform businesses. No
individual cloud can address all of an enterprise's requirements,
so they must be able to use and effectively control hybrid cloud
assets across many locations. IBM with its focus on providing a
holistic hybrid cloud strategy is well positioned to help
organizations address the security, data management and compliance
complexities that can prevent them from taking full advantage of
cloud innovation," says Rick
Villars, Group Vice President of Worldwide Research at
IDC.
The 2022 IBM Transformation Index: State of Cloud revealed:
Lack of the right skills is inhibiting progress
When it comes to managing their cloud applications, 69% of
respondents say their team lacks the skills needed to be
proficient. This is a major roadblock to innovation, with more than
a quarter of respondents saying skills and talent shortages are
impeding their business's cloud objectives. The effects don't stop
here – these limitations are also preventing organizations from
leveraging the power of partnerships. More than one-third of
respondents say a lack of technical skills is holding them back
from integrating ecosystem partners into cloud environments. This
challenge is even greater in the US, where nearly 40% admit to this
lack of skills – pointing to the need for talent.
Exposure to cyberthreats continues to lurk despite embracing
security techniques
While more than 90% of responding
financial services, telecommunications and government organizations
have adopted security tools such as confidential computing
capabilities, multifactor authentication and more, gaps remain that
are preventing organizations from driving innovation. In fact, 32%
of overall respondents cite security as the top barrier for
integrated workloads across environments and more than one quarter
of respondents agree security concerns present a roadblock to
achieving their cloud business goals.
Security concerns can even hold organizations back from
unlocking the full potential of partnerships. As potential security
gaps can cause third and fourth party risks to loom, respondents
say data governance (49%) and cybersecurity (47%) are the top
challenges to fully integrating their business ecosystem into the
cloud. In Brazil, cyberthreats are an even greater concern to
ecosystem innovation -- 51% say cybersecurity risks pose a major
challenge for businesses that want to integrate business ecosystem
partners into cloud environments.
Regulatory and compliance requirements remain center stage
causing businesses to pause
With regulations on the rise,
so too are compliance challenges. 53% of respondents believe that
ensuring compliance in the cloud is currently too difficult and
nearly one-third cite regulatory compliance issues as a key barrier
for integrating workloads across private and public IT
environments. In financial services, for example, more than a
quarter of respondents agree that meeting industry requirements is
holding them back from fully achieving their cloud objectives.
These challenges span the globe and are especially prevalent in
countries such as Singapore,
China, India and Japan.
Based on the Index, IBM will launch an interactive tool to serve
as a continual source of feedback for organizations to measure
their transformation progress. With the ability to help companies
assess how they fare against others, the tool will allow them to
identify areas where transformation is stalled and where it may be
excelling – unlocking the ability to diagnose and act with
efficiency even against the real-world of complexity of cloud
transformation.
IBM will make the IBM Transformation Index: State of Cloud tool
publicly available in the coming months, aiming to provide business
leaders with valuable benchmarking insights that can inform their
hybrid cloud strategies. The IBM Institute for Business Value also
published a new report, "A Comparative Look at Enterprise Cloud
Strategy" with an action guide for how leaders can use the Index to
help advance their organizations' digital transformation.
Methodology:
This survey was conducted online
in 12 countries (US, Canada,
UK, Germany, France, India, Japan,
China, Brazil, Spain, Singapore, Australia) by The Harris Poll
on behalf of IBM from June
8th, 2022 to July
17th, 2022. The survey was conducted among 3,014
IT and business professionals in companies with annual revenue over
$500M who have deep knowledge of
their organization's Cloud strategy. The IBM Transformation Index:
State of Cloud was developed by combining the data from 25+
question batteries of various formats across 9 Cloud-related
dimensions that were informed by input from industry
experts.
About IBM
IBM is a leading global hybrid cloud and AI,
and consulting services provider, helping clients in more than 175
countries capitalize on insights from their data, streamline
business processes, reduce costs and gain the competitive edge in
their industries. Nearly 3,800 government and corporate
entities in critical infrastructure areas such as financial
services, telecommunications and healthcare rely on IBM's hybrid
cloud platform and Red Hat OpenShift to affect their digital
transformations quickly, efficiently, and securely. IBM's
breakthrough innovations in AI, quantum computing,
industry-specific cloud solutions and business services deliver
open and flexible options to our clients. All of this is
backed by IBM's legendary commitment to trust, transparency,
responsibility, inclusivity, and service. For more information,
visit www.ibm.com.
CONTACT:
Kaveri Camire
IBM Communications
kcamire@us.ibm.com
Suzanne Cross
IBM Communications
Suzanne.cross@us.ibm.com
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SOURCE IBM